Who Stole the Plans for iRobot's Battle Bots?Jameel Ahed was 20 years old when he joined iRobot in May 1999, a biomedical engineering student at the University of Illinois on a summer internship. In those days, the company was just 80 or so geeks in the Boston exurbs designing toys for Hasbro and doing research for Darpa. Ahed stood out. He was hardworking, flirtatious, and outgoing...
In December 2001, he bought the domain name roboticfx.com, planning to launch his own startup...
Before he left, a company staffer demanded that he sign a final confidentiality agreement. Ahed complained but signed. The next day, an email was sent at 10:18 pm from his still-active iRobot account to his new Robotic FX address detailing how the PackBot's batteries were made. Shortly thereafter, Ahed packed up and returned to Chicago...
By 2004, Ahed had a bare-bones prototype he called the Negotiator. It weighed just 20 pounds and cost less than $30,000 — half what iRobot was charging for a comparable early version of the PackBot...
...the Army announced its biggest ground robot contract ever. The so-called xBot deal would be worth up to $300 million and cover as many as 3,000 units...
In February 2007, iRobot's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ahed, demanding that he stop making and marketing the Negotiator...
On September 14, 2007, the Army awarded the five-year xBot contract to Ahed for $279.9 million. iRobot went into battle mode. (more) (coda)
Lessons:
• Keep all confidentiality / nondisclosure agreements current.
• Create an environment which discourages intellectual theft.
• Don't delay. If you suspect something is wrong, trust your instincts.
• Implementing a defense after loosing a $279m contract is expensive.
• Implementing a defense at the outset is cheap insurance.
