On February 11, 2019, EagleView Technologies issued a press release concerning an intellectual property dispute between EagleView and Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK). We would like to set the record straight.
Verisk introduced 3-dimensional modeling of structures in 1997 through our own application called Sketch®, which was available to users of our Xactimate® product. In 2004, Verisk enhanced this capability by introducing the ability to import image and blueprint underlays, which enabled our customers to use aerial photographic images to construct and improve their models, including the calculation of roof measurements.
In 2008, Verisk enabled customers to obtain EagleView roof reports through our Xactimate platform if they wished. This included Xactware-developed technology that converted the details of EagleView’s static PDF report into a fully editable, 3-dimensional plan in Xactware’s Sketch program.
On July 15, 2015, EagleView was acquired by Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm with $44 billion of assets under management. In the acquisition agreement, EagleView affirmed that Verisk was not infringing its intellectual property. On September 23, 2015—85 days after coming under Vista’s control—EagleView sued Verisk for the infringement of 153 claims across nine patents. Since this dispute began, EagleView has abandoned three patents and 142 claims. We have closely examined the 11 remaining claims and state confidently that our methods do not infringe the remaining few claims.
Verisk was doing 3-dimensional modeling of buildings nearly 20 years ago and began imagery analytics in 2004 to bring innovation to our customers. Verisk continues offering improved products today to bring value and choice to the industry. Over the last 15 years, all of the source code, models, analytic methods, visualizations, and report formats of our aerial imagery offerings are 100 percent the product of the research and development of Verisk teams and make no use of any other party’s intellectual property.
In spite of being attacked by lawsuit, on September 16, 2016, Verisk entered into a new agreement with EagleView to maintain the distribution of its products on our platform. Verisk did this for one reason only: to maximize choice for our customers.
We eagerly look forward to the trial and the elimination of the last 11 claims that remain of EagleView’s original 153.
Verisk has a long track record and bright future as a provider of aerial imagery solutions, and we look forward to serving our fast-growing list of customers in the years to come.
