AI Accent Translation Pioneer Sanas Files Suit in U.S. District Court for Theft of Intellectual Property by Armenia-Based Company

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanas, the inventor of the world's first RealTime Speech Understanding Platform and the leading innovator in the use of artificial intelligence-driven accent translation, announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Krisp Technologies, Inc. ("Krisp"). The lawsuit alleges that Krisp, an Armenia-based company that has recently released what it claims is its own software, copied Sanas' patented technology after stealing confidential information from Sanas. 

Founded in 2020, Sanas' inventions allow for speakers with regional accents to be understood more clearly by speakers of local accents.  Sanas has received widespread acclaim for its revolutionary technology, which has been lauded for its smooth, real-time operation, low latency, and for preserving the individual speaker's authenticity and natural intonation.  The company created the category for accent translation, and has quickly become the market leader as its products have won widespread adoption.  

According to the complaint, Krisp approached Sanas in 2021 seeking to partner with Sanas, and hoping to jointly market Sanas' patented accent translation technology—a technology Krisp admitted it did not have.  After nearly a year of discussions regarding a potential partnership, all under a non-disclosure agreement, Krisp abruptly ended discussions on November 4, 2022 and went silent.  As alleged in the complaint, Krisp was secretly working on its own competing product, using what it learned from Sanas under the NDA.  In April 2023—a short six months after terminating the discussions with Sanas—Krisp announced a demonstration version of accent conversion software, and shortly thereafter filed a patent application for an invention it claimed was based on Krisp's own work.  

In the spring of 2025, Krisp began to broadly offer for sale what it holds out as its own accent conversion product, but which copies in striking detail Sanas' technology.  Sanas' inventions are protected by issued US patents, as well as other international patents and pending applications.  The lawsuit alleges that Krisp not only infringes Sanas' US patents, but also that Krisp's own patents themselves are founded on inventions learned from Sanas' engineers. Sanas seeks a court order that Sanas is at least a co-inventor and co-owner of those patents and therefore entitled to rights as such, including the right to freely license those patents to customers.

Sanas CEO Sharath Keshava Narayana said: "From its earliest roots in a project by Stanford engineering students to help solve the frustrations faced by one of their classmates, Sanas has been devoted to helping people communicate more easily.  We are proud that our technologies have helped thousands of professionals enter the workplace and overcome discrimination based on accent.  That success has been built on the innovation and hard work of our incredibly talented team.  Through this lawsuit, we are standing up for them and for innovators everywhere, and for the integrity of the market that has come to depend on Sanas' technologies."

The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Northern California based in San Francisco, includes claims for:

• Infringement by Krisp of four of Sanas' issued United States patents (Patent Nos. 11,948,550, 12,125,496, 12,131,745 and 11,715,457);
  
  
• Misappropriation of Sanas' trade secrets in violation of the United States Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1836) and the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (Cal. Civ. Code § 3426 et seq.) and
  
  
• A legal declaration that Sanas is a co-inventor and co-owner of two United States Patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 12,205,609 and 12,223,979) that were improperly issued to Krisp alone, but were based in part on information disclosed by Sanas to Krisp under an NDA—a fact Krisp was obligated, but failed, to disclose to the United States Patent Office.

Sanas is represented by Michael Ng and Daniel Zaheer of the litigation firm Kobre & Kim.  Their internationally recognized trade secret and intellectual property trial team has won some of the largest-ever victories for innovators, including a $604.9 million jury verdict in a California state court trade secret case in October 2024.

Sanas' complaint can be accessed here: krisplitigation.com 

About Sanas

Sanas provides the world's first Real-Time Speech Understanding Platform powered by its patented AI technologies. Born from a mission to power a kinder, more compassionate world, Sanas is pioneering a revolution in human connection by making global, real-time communication more inclusive. Today, Sanas offers Real-Time Accent Translation and Noise Cancellation with omni-directional capabilities. Founded in 2020, Sanas is led by a team of exceptional co-founders, including CEO Sharath Keshava Narayana, and CTO Shawn Zhang. To learn more, visit Sanas.ai.

SOURCE Kobre & Kim