Syte-Visual Conception Ltd. (Syte) filed a complaint on February 27 against Home Depot U.S.A. Inc.and Slyce Acquisition Inc. for patent infringement. The complaint accuses Home Depot and Slyce of offering a visual search program similar to one Syte designed.
The patents in question are United States Patent No. 9,710,928 (“the ‘928 patent’”), and United States Patent No. 10,127,688 (“the ‘688 patent’”). The nearly identical patents relate “to systems and processes for automatically analyzing and matching an object’s colors using a digital image captured on an electronic communications device.”
Home Depot offers a mobile search feature for finding similarly colored products to that of a reference image. For example, a customer could take a picture of a yellow pillow, and Home Depot’s service could find other products with a similar yellow hue. According to the complaint, Slyce, another visual search company, allegedly “sells or otherwise provides its infringing virtual search technology to Home Depot for use in connection with the [mobile app].”
Syte, founded in 2015, spent years developing its technology, which includes advancements in camera searching, deep tagging, and AI engines. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, the company drew inspiration from Hewlett-Packard Laboratories who in 2008 began offering a service that identifies a user’s hue of foundation makeup. Syte’s technology is distinguishable from Hewlett-Packard’s because it allows users to search using more specific color options.
The complaint claims, “By distributing and making available to the public the Home Depot mobile app with the visual search feature and overlay described herein, Home Depot and Slyce are directly infringing the Patents-in-suit.”
As a result of Home Depot and Slyce’s alleged patent infringement, Syte seeks an award for damages “in an amount adequate to compensate for each of [the two companies’] infringement.”
