Swiss company Scandit AG created an application called ShelfView, which enables retailers to verify the prices of various products and ensure that associated promotions are correctly updated. The application utilizes barcode scanning, optical character recognition, and augmented reality to analyze a store’s current inventory and make recommendations on any needed adjustments. Scandit has also developed applications that enable barcodes to be read with a smartphone camera or a wearable electronic device.
On October 25, 2024, Honeywell filed a patent infringement suit in the Eastern District of Texas alleging that these Scandit products infringe five of Honeywell’s patents (i.e., U.S. Patent Nos. 9,304,376, 9,477,856, 10,360,426, 11,816,530, and 11,928,551). The ’376 Patent relates to an adapter for an electronic device that can read barcodes. The ’856 Patent relates to a mobile device that includes a camera that can directly read barcodes and provide an indication on the screen in response to reading the barcodes. The ’426, ’530, and ’551 Patents relate to producing multimedia content viewable on a display in response to decoding barcodes.
Honeywell alleges that Scandit’s applications are covered by, and therefore infringe, these five patents. Additionally, Honeywell alleges that it alerted Scandit to the potentially infringing activity as early as 2019, when it sent Scandit a letter notifying them of its potentially infringing activity. The case is Honeywell International Inc. v. Scandit AG, E.D. Tex., No. 2:24-cv-00860.