Smart Buildings

What the Johnson Controls & Willow Partnership Really Says About Smart Building Patents

Almost 140 years ago, in 1883, American college professor Warren Johnson became frustrated with his inability to control individual classroom temperatures, so designed and patented a multi-zone pneumatic control system to solve the problem. Two years later, in 1885, he established the Johnson Electric Service Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a firm now known as Johnson Controls International (JCI). Today, JCI owns thousands of patents in the fields of building control & automation and is a $25.3 Billion revenue global smart building leader. This research note looks at the 2021 intellectual property lawsuit JCI filed against Willow Technology Corporation and the recent announcement of a licensing agreement (Partnership) between the two companies. Will JCI’s grip on smart building patents hold back innovation across the building sector? How does this impact the large ecosystem of Startup companies looking to disrupt the industry? On the 22nd of December 2021, when JCI filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Willow, […]

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