Nest Labs, makers of the well-liked Nest Learning Thermostat, aren't taking that recent lawsuit from Honeywell lying down. The company recently hired Richard Lutton, Jr., former Chief Intellectual Properties Officer for Apple, to represent it in the case. Lutton will also become a Vice President of Nest.
Honeywell sued Nest back in February alleging the company, founded by former Apple iPod designer Tony Fadell, had infringed on seven of its patents. The thrust of the complaint appears to be the Nest thermostat's round shape and reliance on a rotating dial to adjust the temperature.
Honeywell International Inc., a legacy home electronics company founded in 1906, had $36 billion dollars of revenue for fiscal year 2011. Nest, a small startup based in Palo Alto, California, first made a splash with its reimagined thermostat last year.
[via AllThingsD]
