Pittsburgh Robotics Company Wins Preliminary Legal Battle Against Chinese Company
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A Pittsburgh robotics company won a preliminary legal battle to protect a small robotic pet called Vector against a Chinese company knock-off.
The Pittsburgh-made robot is the size of a hamster and is just for fun, said its manufacturer Digital Dream Labs. Dream Labs, however, is suing a Chinese company it said reverse-engineered Vector to make its own very similar pet.
At a taping of the Sunday Business Page with Jon Delano, the company's CEO said the Chinese have been throwing lawyers and paper against Dream Labs to block the lawsuit, but he said the Chinese company lost round one in federal court.
"They got all these types of resources they say they are going to throw at us. It was nothing but intimidation from the beginning, and part of the intimidation was, 'you have no grounds, you're an idiot, this is all going to be dismissed.' They bet so hard and heavy on this motion to dismiss and then they got slapped right back. Our copyright and our trademarks are prevailing," said Digital Dream Labs CEO Jacob Hanchar.
Hanchar says the lesson is a Pittsburgh little guy can stand up to any more powerful foreign company that tries to steal its technology.
You can watch Jon's full Sunday Business Page interview on this topic on the KDKA Sunday Morning News.