Meta Faces Billion-Dollar Patent Suit Over Ray-Ban Smart Glasses
Solos Technology lawsuit seeks injunction on fastest-growing wearable product
Meta Platforms faces a patent infringement lawsuit seeking multiple billions of dollars in damages and a potential sales injunction on its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, casting a shadow over what has become the social media giant's most successful hardware venture to date.
Solos Technology filed the lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts on Friday, alleging that Meta and its eyewear partner EssilorLuxottica infringed on patents covering core smart glasses technologies including multimodal sensing, beamforming and audio processing, sensor fusion, and intelligent assistance systems. The lawsuit, which also names Oakley and Luxottica of America as defendants, claims Meta "architected, exposed, and promoted these capabilities as core platform features" after gaining access to Solos' technology through technical reviews and hiring personnel familiar with the smaller company's innovations.
The legal threat comes at an inopportune moment for Meta's hardware ambitions. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have emerged as a rare bright spot in the company's Reality Labs division, which has lost tens of billions of dollars pursuing the metaverse vision. Since launching in October 2023, the Ray-Ban Meta line has sold 2 million units worldwide, with 1 million units moving in 2024 alone. The product line captured over 60% of the global smart glasses market last year, a share that grew to 73% in the first half of 2025.
The partnership has proven lucrative for EssilorLuxottica, generating €365 million in revenue for the Italian-French eyewear giant in 2024. Barclays analysts project the collaboration could generate approximately €800 million this year and potentially surpass €6 billion by 2030. The companies are reportedly considering doubling annual production capacity to 20 million units by the end of 2026, with the potential to scale beyond 30 million if demand continues.
Meta's stock, which traded at $658.76 on Friday, has risen 1.7% despite the lawsuit announcement. Trading volume surged to 22.77 million shares, well above the company's recent average of 12-15 million shares. The modest market reaction suggests investors are focused on broader concerns about Meta's heavy investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure rather than the immediate legal threat to its smart glasses business.
Wells Fargo analysts cut their price target on Meta to $754 from $795 on Friday, citing increased operating expenses and capital expenditures related to AI initiatives rather than the patent litigation. The analyst downgrade highlights the tension between Meta's hardware successes and its massive spending on generative AI technology.
Solos' complaint alleges that Meta personnel conducted an internal technical study that cited Solos' patents, noting that the smaller company's technology was "protected by over 30 patents" and describing its innovations as "technically superior." The lawsuit claims EssilorLuxottica senior personnel "had personally tested Solos' technologies across multiple years and industry events" before the Meta partnership launched in 2019.
"We firmly believe the legal system will function as intended by holding all companies, regardless of size, accountable," said John C. C. Fan, Solos co-founder and Executive Chairman. "Innovators must be able to rely on the enforceability of their patent rights. We intend to vigorously enforce those rights to ensure that innovation is protected and appropriately recognized."
The lawsuit presents a significant risk to Meta's hardware strategy at a time when the company is positioning smart glasses as a bridge to its broader augmented reality ambitions. Mark Zuckerberg has projected Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses sales could reach between 2 and 5 million units for the full year 2025, a forecast that could be jeopardized if Solos succeeds in obtaining an injunction.
Meta has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit. The company's Reality Labs division reported a 74% year-over-year revenue increase to $470 million in the third quarter of 2025, driven partly by strong demand for the AI-enhanced Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. However, analysts anticipate a year-over-year revenue decline for Reality Labs in the fourth quarter as the company continues to invest heavily in future technologies.
The smart glasses market is projected to grow by 60% this year, with total users expected to reach 15 million. The broader wearable AI market reached $39.7 billion in 2024 and is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 28% to 34% through 2034, with the smart glasses segment alone predicted to be worth $200 billion by 2040.
For Meta, which has struggled to translate its massive social media dominance into successful hardware products beyond the Ray-Ban line, the legal challenge threatens to disrupt its most promising consumer hardware success story. The outcome of the lawsuit could significantly affect the company's ability to compete in what analysts expect to become a multibillion-dollar market over the next two decades.