Alpha Modus Takes Legal Action Against Inditex Over In-Store Tech Use

The technological ecosystem developed by Inditex to improve its store operations is taking the Spanish group to court. The U.S. company Alpha Modus, specialized in retail technologies, has sued the company that owns Zara for “patent infringement” in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Inditex is one of the international retail companies that has invested the most in developing its digital ecosystem to improve store operations. In some of its latest openings, such as Zara in Manchester, UK, the group deploys its ecosystem thanks to the combination of Rfid and soft alarms, two technologies implemented in recent years.

As Alpha Modus explained in a statement, the company claims that “Zara’s retail environment, including its Rfid-based garment tracking systems, digital surveillance technologies, mobile app capabilities and inventory replenishment platforms, uses Alpha Modus’ proprietary methods and systems without authorization.“

Alpha Modus seeks a declaration of infringement, damages and an injunction to prevent the use of its technology

Alpha Modus emphasizes that “the patented technologies alleged in this lawsuit were developed over years of engineering, product creation and testing in actual retail environments.“

The technologies covered by the patents that Alpha Modus includes in its lawsuit “are fundamental to modern in-store retail operations, including product interaction analytics, dynamic inventory management, personalized merchandising, shopper movement tracking, and automated checkout workflows.“

As a result, the U.S. company is seeking relief including a declaration of infringement, damages (the amount of which it does not quantify) aggravated by willful infringement, and injunctive relief to prevent continued unauthorized use.

Nasdaq-listed Alpha Modus is a company dedicated to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technologies focused on real-time interaction and attribution with in-store shoppers.