Judge allows Aon’s patent lawsuit against ZestyAI to proceed

A federal judge has denied ZestyAI’s motion to dismiss a patent infringement case brought by Aon Re, allowing the lawsuit to move forward in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

“Recently, the Federal Circuit acknowledged the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence but held that patent owners may not claim the mere application of generic machine learning to new data environments. Aon’s patents do not offer a new twist on machine learning itself. But that is not fatal, because we agree with Aon that the patents recite the patent-eligible arrangement of two independently trained classifiers to analyze property characteristics and conditions. For the reasons that follow, we deny Zesty.AI’s motion to dismiss.”

“Zesty has not persuaded us that Aon’s claims pose such a risk. Claim 1 of the 029 patent requires a specific classifier arrangement that must analyze pixels from aerial images in a defined sequence to generate risk assessments. Zesty does not explain why this fails to leave room for alternative methods, and the record, albeit very limited at this stage, appears to suggest the opposite conclusion.”

The case centers on Aon’s proprietary technology for assessing property risks using aerial imagery and machine learning. Aon alleges that ZestyAI has been unlawfully using its patented methods in products like Z-Property, which analyze roof quality and structural vulnerabilities.

Aon claims it notified ZestyAI of the alleged infringement in April 2023, but failed negotiations prompted the legal action. The complaint seeks damages, a permanent injunction, and legal fees.

Founded in 2017 and backed by investors such as Centana Growth Partners and Brex, ZestyAI has raised $71 million to date. The company recently secured an $15 million in debt financing from CIBC Innovation Banking in June—funds that may now help support its legal defense.

The initial pretrial conference is scheduled for September 18, 2025, with discovery set to begin August 13.