Axon will always defend its intellectual property.• Axon’s acquisition of Vievu falls within the “failing firm” safe harbor.
Municipal, county, and state law enforcement agencies.• The FTC left Axon with no choice.
The FTC serves as prosecutor, judge, and jury in its own administrative process. On April 17, 2020, the Commission announced a proposed settlement with Safariland, which is one of the respondents and the parent company of VieVu. Former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright said in 2015 that over a 20-year period, “in 100 percent of cases where the administrative law judge ruled in favor of the FTC staff, the Commission affirmed liability; and in 100 percent of the cases in which the administrative law judge .
found no liability, the Commission reversed. Two levels of appeal thereafter could take an additional two to three years.The administrative case has been stayed by a series of orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Axon competes with several large companies, including Motorola, which recently acquired WatchGuard for $271 million, and has revenue more than 15 times that of Axon. Post-acquisition, Axon spent millions of dollars to address Vievu customer needs and to keep its service operational.• Axon is seeking to protect its Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law and vindicate its acquisition of Vievu, a small, failing body-worn camera company. Remarkably, the FTC described its vision of “re-creating” Vievu into a virtual “clone” of Axon armed with Axon’s own intellectual property – something that Vievu never was nor could be without impermissible government regulation of—and unwarranted interference in—a highly-competitive marketplace.A single-shot TASER CEW Smart Weapon.Built for close-range encounters.
We have invested more than $200 million in research and development in our Software and Sensors segment over 10 years, much of which was an investment in cloud software capabilities to make body camera programs accessible and feasible for large American cities.Choose the cloud-connected camera with easy installation and continuous upgrades.• On May 3, 2018, Axon acquired the Vievu camera subsidiary from The Safariland Group in a $7 million upfront cash and stock transaction.The purchase price of Vievu consisted of $4.6 million in cash and $2.4 million in common stock issued to Safariland at closing.
Before the acquisition, the two companies competed to provide body-worn camera systems to large, metropolitan police departments across the United States.
If the proceedings are allow to proceed in parallel, we expect fact-finding, hearing, and decision to take about a year.
Ideal for small agencies.Private security, logistics, manufacturing, and other commercial sectors.Switch to one dynamic, integrated report that allows officers to focus on what matters.• Axon believes that the federal district court lawsuit is its most prudent course of action, taken on behalf of its customers, employees and shareholders.Take command of real-time ops with live maps, instant alerts and integrated video streaming.Prisons, Probation and Parole, and juvenile justice.— Rick Smith, CEO and founder of Axon• Since May 2018, among law enforcement agencies with more than 100 officers, other competitors have won at least 55 competitive camera bids.
Vievu was unable to meet its financial obligations in the near term, and was effectively insolvent.• We look forward to a bright future of cutting edge innovation on behalf of our customers in support of their mission to keep communities safe, and in support of Axon’s mission to protect life.• Beyond body cameras, our growth trajectory features expansion into records management systems and computer aided dispatch systems, as well as growing our in-car camera solutions, and international customer expansion.
Before their merger, Axon and VieVu competed to sell body-worn camera systems that were particularly well suited for large metropolitan police departments. The stay lifted on July 7 and discovery has resumed. The FTC told Axon it would unilaterally dictate the terms of settlement from a “menu” of all Axon’s customers and contracts (not just those won post-acquisition), Axon’s intellectual property and technology, Axon employees, and any ancillary services and support functions the FTC deemed necessary. This is a strong sign of an unhealthy and biased institutional process.”• Vievu was also struggling to compete because its technology suffered from security flaws and had not kept pace with cutting edge features its customers wanted and competitors offered.• Axon intends to continue to execute on the vision that has been communicated with shareholders. The Federal Trade Commission issued an administrative complaint challenging Axon Enterprise, Inc.’s consummated acquisition of its body-worn camera systems competitor VieVu, LLC. Also, Vievu’s failure to invest in a dashboard camera solution put it at significant competitive disadvantage.• The full text of Axon’s complaint, filed in the District of Arizona on January 3, 2020, is linked above.• The FTC is confident it can strong-arm Axon into settling because, unlike the Department of Justice, which must pursue its merger challenges in federal court, the FTC has the option of initiating proceedings within the agency itself.