DITTO is a company that sells software that aids eyewear companies sell their products online using virtual fitting. Originally DITTO was a retailer that sold designer prescription eyeglasses and

sunglasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names below) are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can s ...

. The company is based in San Francisco, CA. It used virtual fitting technology to let customers try on frames from a computer. The technology measures a user’s face by homing in on pupils, ears, cheekbones, ears and other facial landmarks, and then came back with images of dozens of different pairs of glasses that might be a good fit.

History

DITTO was founded in 2011 in Mountain View, CA by Kate Endress, Sergey Surkov, and Dmitry Kornilov. Currently the company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with fulfillment and distribution operations in

Evansville, IN Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. In April 2012 the company announced that it had picked up $3 million in funding from a group of investors led by August Capital. At the end of February 2017 DITTO sent an email to its customers explaining that its online eyewear e-commerce and eyewear distribution would be closing down. No reason was given, they still appear to sell the technology they used to use for a virtual fitting of their eyewear.

Products

DITTO's product line included prescription and non-prescription designer eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company carried brands such as

Ray-Ban Ray-Ban is an American-Italian brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is known for its Wayfarer and Aviator lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to Italian eyewear conglomerate ...

, Persol, Chloé, TAG Heuer, and Vera Wang, as well as niche fashion and boutique brands like Jason Wu,

Selima Optique Selima may refer to: People * Selima, a character in the film '' The Sleeping Dictionary'' (2003) * Selima Hill (born 1945), a British poet * Selima Kurumova (1914–1968), a Chechen writer * Selima Murad (c. 1905–1974), an Iraqi Jewish singe ...

Alain Mikli Alain Mikli (born Alain Miklitarian; 1 April 1955) is a French-Armenian designer of high-end handmade eyeglasses and accessories. Mikli's line features unique colors and shapes, and are a favorite among European celebrities and avant-garde America ...

, Anglo American, and John Varvatos.

Patent infringement lawsuits

In May 2013, DITTO was sued by

1-800 Contacts 1-800 Contacts Inc. is an American contact lens retailer based in Draper, Utah. The brands that 1-800 Contacts use includes Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb and CooperVision. The company was founded as the industry's first wa ...

and another company called Lennon Imaging Technology for Patent Infringement. The

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...

claimed that 1-800 Contacts is abusing patent law by acting like a

patent troll In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...

in its lawsuit against DITTO. In a blog post, the EFF accused 1-800 Contacts of “leveraging the massive expense of patent litigation to squelch the competition” and asked its followers to help DITTO by

crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

prior art. The lawsuit by Lennon Imaging Technologies was dismissed on October 7, 2013 without prejudice.Ha, Anthony
"the company was actually facing two suits, including one from Lennon, which is a "non-practicing" company that owns intellectual property but doesn’t offer any products or services of its own. A judge has granted Ditto’s motion to have Lennon’s lawsuit dismissed"
''Techcrunch'', 12 October 2013. Retrieved on 24 October 2013.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Official website
Companies based in San Mateo, California Companies established in 2011 Privately held companies based in California Companies based in Silicon Valley Eyewear companies of the United States Sunglasses