GoPro Falls On Polaroid Litigation; Action-Camera Maker May Have Copied Important Design Elements

• GoPro Inc (NASDAQ: GPRO) was trading down more than 2.4 percent on Tuesday, after the company that makes Polaroid devices sued the action-camera maker on Tuesday.
• The maker of Polaroid cameras is arguing that GoPro’s new cube-shaped camera is a rip-off of the Polaroid Cube, launched almost two years ago.

GoPro launched its latest action camera, the Hero4 Session about four months ago. The small, cube-shaped camera had great reception among the public. However, the company that owns the rights to manufacturing Polaroid cameras is now arguing the Hero4 Session is a rip-off of its Polaroid Cube camera, released 18 months before GoPro’s latest device.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, C&A Marketing Inc. alleged that the Hero4 Session infringed one its patents for the shape and functionality of its camera, which it had obtained in May. C&A Marketing is asking not only for GoPro to stop selling and distributing the Hero4 Session, but also for all of the profits made from it to date.

Chaim Pikarski, C&A Marketing Executive Vice President told Benzinga that the company believes “GoPro has infringed the patent for the design of the Polaroid Cube.”

Pikarski said C&A Marketing has “filed a complaint for patent infringement with the United States District Court in New Jersey,” adding that the company “invested considerable resources in the design and development of a unique product with the Polaroid Cube.”

“The product’s design is much of what makes it distinct,” he continued. “It has rounded edges, a slightly recessed lens and a single button on top - all important design elements, all used as well by GoPro for its Hero4 Session.”

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.