The court case was brought by iRobot after it claimed that intellectual property for its Roomba robot vacuum was used by SharkNinja in the design of its robotic cleaning products.
iRobot brought the case to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) where an administrative law judge issued an initial determination in favor of iRobot.
The ruling recommended a limited exclusion order, finding that SharkNinja had infringed valid claims of multiple iRobot asserted patents. The initial determination recommends that the ITC issue an order barring the importation to the US of various infringing SharkNinja robotic cleaning products.
The judge’s initial determination and recommendations will go before the ITC Commissioners, who are expected to make a final determination by next February.
"This determination validates the strength of iRobot's patent portfolio and the hard work of our engineers over the better part of the last two decades," said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot.
According to Reuters, SharkNinja and its attorneys have not yet commented on the ruling.