Shanghai-based JAKA Robotics said on September 3 it has filed for injunctive relief against Teradyne’s Universal Robots unit, escalating a public brawl over cobot patents just one week after Teradyne sued JAKA’s German subsidiary for allegedly infringing patents on collaborative robot hardware and software.
JAKA calls Teradyne's claims “false, misleading and damaging”
In a lengthy statement, JAKA said it had received no direct communication or formal court filing from Teradyne Robotics or its legal representatives about the alleged infringement, and only learned of the lawsuit through a social-media post by Universal Robots. JAKA said its own legal advisers confirmed that, as of September 2, no patent-infringement proceedings had been opened against the company. The countersuit seeks to stop what JAKA calls the “public dissemination of statements that the company considers false, misleading and damaging.”
Freedom-to-operate analyses and China-origin barbs
JAKA said it holds more than 300 granted patents worldwide and had commissioned two independent freedom-to-operate analyses before entering the European market, neither of which flagged infringement risk. The company also pushed back on Teradyne suggestions that its products are lower quality or less safe, characterizing those remarks as tied to “the company's Chinese origin” and calling them unsubstantiated. JAKA argued cobot safety depends on the full application, integration and risk assessment rather than on manufacturer nationality.
Teradyne stands by its Copenhagen filing
David Brandt, vice president of R&D and chief technology officer at Universal Robots, told The Robot Report that Teradyne has filed the case with courts in Copenhagen and that any delay in service “may be due to the time required by the courts, but they should receive it shortly.” Brandt added that JAKA’s freedom-to-operate work “apparently… has not done a very good job” and that the number of patents JAKA holds is “irrelevant to this case.”
The latest China-cobot fight to spill into public view
The row lands amid a wider Teradyne push against Chinese cobot rivals; last week Teradyne also sued another Chinese cobot maker for alleged patent infringement. For context, see JAKA's earlier product launches such as the JAKA Pi compact humanoid, related coverage on the broader industrial robots beat, and our business deals hub for corporate-legal developments.
Reporting based on coverage from The Robot Report and JAKA Robotics.