Shares of iRobot (IRBT) are down over 5% in afternoon trading after SharkNinja announced last night that it "claimed an early victory" in the patent infringement lawsuit that iRobot initiated in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. "In its attempt to dominate the robotic vacuum cleaner market and eliminate more affordable options for consumers, on October 15, 2019, iRobot filed a motion for a preliminary injunction alleging infringement of three of its patents and seeking to stop sales of SharkNinja's IQ robot during the holiday season. After receiving SharkNinja's response, iRobot withdrew its motion with respect to one of the three patents but persisted in seeking an injunction with respect to the other two.

As SharkNinja expected, the court denied iRobot's motion because iRobot failed to show that it would likely prevail on its infringement allegations as to the two patents. SharkNinja demonstrated that it knew of the asserted patents and specifically designed its products so they would not infringe. The court agreed with SharkNinja on all points, writing that 'SharkNinja has raised substantial questions regarding iRobot's infringement allegations,' and denying iRobot's motion for preliminary injunction," SharkNinja stated in its press release reporting the verdict last night. The company added: "While vindicated by today's outcome, SharkNinja will continue to vigorously defend itself in this case and is confident that it will ultimately prevail against iRobot's infringement allegations, which it believes are meritless."

Near 1:30 pm ET on Wednesday, iRobot shares are down $2.55, or 5.6%, to $43.15.