Lennon Image Technologies filed a complaint against defendant Ulta Beauty, a makeup product retailer, in the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday for allegedly infringing its patent for image capturing technology that allows a customer to virtually try on items for sale.
The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent No. 6,624,843 (the ’843 patent), entitled “Customer Image Capture and Use Thereof in a Retailing System.” This “allows apparel retailers and other purveyors of such items an opportunity to virtually ‘dress’ the potential customer in featured merchandise as a virtual ‘fitting.’” Specifically, “[t]hrough manipulation of digitized images, an image of the customer in a new apparel style is displayed.”
Ulta is accused of infringing the patent-in-suit through its GLAMlab App, which allows users to virtually try on makeup products on the app. For example, Claim 14 of the patent-in-suit states “[a] method for manipulating a customer image corresponding to a customer, the method comprising: capturing the customer image; generating a composite image comprising the customer image and one of at least one apparel style image corresponding to a potential purchase item; displaying the composite image thereby allowing the customer to assess the potential purchase item without having to try it on.”
The GLAMlab App accesses a consumer’s mobile device to capture an image of the consumer. As described in the patent, the app purportedly “generates a composite image comprising the customer image and one of at least one apparel style image corresponding to a potential purchase item including by retrieving the customer image in response to a request for the composite image.” For example, each selected item in the app will generate a composite image of the customer with that item. If a consumer selects a certain lipstick the composite image of the consumer will feature the consumer virtually wearing that specific lipstick in the specified shade. Ulta’s GLAMlab app also allegedly infringed Claims 17 and 18 of the patent by utilizing those described methods, For instance, by detecting the presence of a person and searching the person’s face within the image to position the items within the selected area, while also comparing biometrics.
Lennon Image Technologies claimed that Ulta willfully and knowingly directly and indirectly infringed and induced infringement of the patent-in-suit. The plaintiff has sought declaratory judgment in its favor, an award for damages and treble damages, an award for costs and fees, pre- and post-judgment interest, an award for royalties and other relief.
Lennon Image Technologies is represented by Buether Joe & Counselors, LLC.
