Meta sued for Ray-Ban smart glasses patent infringement claims by competitor

Meta, in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, makes the highly popular Ray-Ban smart glasses as the company readies a consumer-grade version of the Orion glasses. However, competitor smart glasses manufacturer Solos is now suing both Meta and EssilorLuxottica, claiming that their products are the result of past and ongoing patent infringement.

Solos sues Meta

According to a report (subscription required) on the lawsuit, Solos has alleged that the first generation of the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses was built using concepts patented by Solos. Now that the second generation of these glasses, as well as the separate Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, are out, Solos claims that patent infringement is continuing to this day.

Solos also makes similar products — AI-powered smart glasses — and is claiming that Meta’s patent infringement has cost the company invaluable business opportunities. The company is seeking billions of dollars in damages, as well as the prevention of further sales for Ray-Ban smart glasses.

Patented technology lost to corporate espionage

Solos reveals that employees from Oakley — a subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica — were introduced to its glasses technologies all the way back in 2015. In fact, a former senior executive actually received a commercial pair of Solos smart glasses for testing purposes in 2019.

Solos also reveals information on multiple meetings with EssilorLuxottica throughout 2017, a period where the company claims that knowledge of its concepts and road map was taken advantage of. Meanwhile, a product manager at Meta — Priyanka Shekar — published a research study on Solos glasses as an MIT Sloan Fellow before joining the company. That study cites Solos’ patents.

A shame if true

I’ve covered Solos products before, and I think that they’re aiming for genuinely useful smart glasses. However, the Meta Ray-Ban glasses are so stupidly popular that the company actually restructured its XR (Extended Reality) division, Reality Labs, to focus more on similar wearables. Now, Meta and EssilorLuxottica are considering doubling Ray-Ban glasses production to meet ever-increasing demand.

If all of this success is indeed built on top of infringed patents, then that will be a real shame. Not only because XR adoption might slow down, but also because Solos seems to have been dealt a very unfair disadvantage these last few years, and I’d love to see it take on Meta on a larger scale.