Update: See below for Shure’s response to ClearOne’s statement.

ClearOne, in a statement sent to rAVe Monday, said it’s confident that Shure’s redesigned MXA910, the MXA910W-A released in December 2019, still infringes ClearOne’s U.S. Patent No. 9,813,806 (the “Graham Patent”). ClearOne has added the MXA910W-A as an accused product to its currently pending lawsuit against Shure in Illinois.

Shure began shipping the MXA910W-A just over four months after Judge Edmond E. Chang of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois granted ClearOne’s request for a preliminary injunction. The injunction prevents Shure from “manufacturing, marketing, and selling” the original MXA910 for use “in its drop-ceiling mounting configuration.” Shure officials claim that the company “specifically designed the new MXA910W-A to provide a drop-ceiling mounting configuration that fully complies with the Court’s rulings in the ongoing litigation in U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois.”

ClearOne officials reviewed the new product, and said in the release that “any installation of the MXA910W-A in a drop-ceiling mounting configuration infringes ClearOne’s Graham Patent.”

“In our view, Shure did not put in the time or effort necessary to ensure that its new product respects ClearOne’s intellectual property rights,” said Zee Hakimoglu, ClearOne chair and CEO. “ClearOne is disappointed in Shure’s ongoing infringement and its refusal to compete fairly in the market.”

ClearOne’s beamforming microphone array technology is protected by at least a dozen patents and pending patent applications. According to Hakimoglu, “ClearOne remains committed to pursuing ongoing innovation, while also enforcing its patent rights vigorously.”

The case number in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois is 17-cv-3078.

Here are earlier articles on the ClearOne/Shure situation:

Original Story: Court Orders Shure to Stop Selling the MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone in ClearOne Preliminary Injunction Win

The Shure 910-A re-release story: Shure MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone Relaunched After ClearOne Injunction

Shure sent us the following statement in response to ClearOne’s comments:

“The Court has explicitly stated the preliminary injunction of the MXA910 issued in August 2019 does not address the newly designed MXA910W-A. Shure specifically designed the new MXA910W-A to comply with the court’s orders, and we remain confident that this new product does not violate the ‘806 patent. The MXA910W-A remains available in the US and our top priority continues to be providing an uninterrupted supply of innovative products to our customers. We continue to believe the ‘806 patent is invalid and look forward to presenting our case in Court. Today’s announcement is another example of ClearOne competing in the courtroom because it cannot effectively compete in the marketplace.”