Super Bowl week started with a score for Velodyne with an Amazon subsidiary purchasing nearly 40 million shares of stock. In return, Amazon gains a board observer. The Wall Street Journal reported the news, which boosted the LiDAR provider’s shares nearly 60% in extended hours trading. The good news doesn’t stop there.
After six long years of legal battles, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the patentability of all claims in Velodyne’s 7,969, 558 patent, rejecting Quanergy infringement accusations. The patent speaks to a 3D point cloud measuring system for autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance (ADAS) robotics, intelligent infrastructure, industrial solutions and other applications.
"Velodyne is pleased with the Federal Circuit’s decision, which confirms the validity of our groundbreaking patent for surround view lidar technology," said Dr. Ted Tewksbury, CEO, Velodyne Lidar. "We were confident we would prevail because our company invented real-time surround view lidar and holds a number of foundational patents relative to this technology. Velodyne is an invention-driven company with intellectual property that is fundamental to the industry. We are committed to protecting our valuable intellectual property assets and are evaluating our options for enforcement against Quanergy and all other infringers."
There’s no question LiDAR is a key component of Industry 4.0, and while Velodyne vanquished its foe in this battle, the war is far from over. Quanergy started trading on the NYSE this week. And courtesy of a business combination with CITIC Capital Acquisition Corp., possesses a war chest of $175 million to invest in continued growth. Only time will tell who comes out on top, but Velodyne shouldn’t waste too much time celebrating the victory.
Learn more about LiDAR and its role in the expanding IoT ecosystem, and our connected, autonomous future at IoT Evolution Expo June 21-24 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See you there!