Smart thermostats might not be the cut-throat world of litigation like, say, mobile phones, but that doesn’t mean the odd feather doesn’t get ruffled from time to time. Nest CEO, Tony Fadell, is understandably protective of his company’s product, so when competitor Honeywell laid a stack of patent infringement claims at his door, unsurprisingly he was none too pleased. How displeased? Well, enough for him to drop this clanger: “Honeywell is worse than a patent troll.” Then going on to quantify with “They’re trying to strangle us, and we’re not going to allow that to happen.” We think that makes his feelings on the matter pretty clear. Well, when you’ve been SVP of Apple’s iPod division, it’s easy to see how patience with such things might wear thin.

CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Tony Fadell calls Honeywell out on patent claims originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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