Ecobee, Inc.

Ecobee, Inc. is a Canadian home automation company founded in 2007 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. In late 2021, Generac Holdings (NYSE: GNRC) acquired Ecobee for a total value of up to $770 million, and it now operates as a subsidiary. As a private subsidiary, its specific revenue is not disclosed, though some estimates place it in the $140 million to $200 million range annually. The company employs over 500 people.

Ecobee is an operating company known for pioneering the smart thermostat market. Its product line consists of smart home devices designed for energy conservation and convenience, including its flagship smart thermostats, room temperature and occupancy sensors, smart doorbell and indoor cameras, and contact sensors. The company also offers a subscription-based home monitoring service, ecobee Smart Security, which integrates its various hardware products.

The company's patent litigation history consists solely of defending against lawsuits. With zero cases as a plaintiff and two as a defendant, Ecobee fits the profile of an operating company targeted by patent assertion entities. The cases have been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, a venue known for patent litigation, and the District of Massachusetts.

Both tracked lawsuits against Ecobee were filed by companies that assert patents in the smart home technology space. The 2023 suit was filed by IOT Innovations LLC, which has been identified as a non-practicing entity (NPE) affiliated with Empire IP that acquired patents from Intellectual Ventures. The 2022 case was brought by Ecofactor, Inc., a company focused on smart thermostat technology patents that has also litigated against other major tech companies like Google.