Makers of Hoverboard Fighting Segway at ITC
The U.S. International Trade Commission has begun investigating a complaint that Powerboard LLC’s “Hoverboard,” among other companies and products, violates a collection of patents held by Segway, Inc. You have probably seen high school and college students rolling by you recently on a two-wheeled contraption that reminded you of Marty McFly from Back to the Future, Part II. That contraption would be a “Powerboard by Hoverboard,” and Segway alleges that Powerboard LLC violates Section 337 of the Tariff Act by importing and selling the Powerboards and their components.
This is actually Segway’s second complaint to the International Trade Commission regarding these patents this year. In May, Segway filed a complaint alleging six companies violated six of their patents related to control and balance systems. In June, Segway attempted to amend their complaint to add Powerboard and five other companies, but this motion was denied. Unable to amend their original complaint, Segway instead filed this second complaint, which alleges violations of only two of the original six patents. Citing the overlap of their initial complaint, Segway has asked that the two complaints be combined.
Powerboard has denied any wrongdoing and is fighting against the two investigations being consolidated. They certainly seem to have a strong argument that Segway is trying to work a loophole in the International Trade Commission’s procedural process. Segway, having been denied the opportunity to amend their original complaint, simply filed a new complaint and then asked to consolidate their new complaint with the first one. The International Trade Commission has not yet reached a conclusion on Segway’s original complaint.
Segway does have other legal avenues to pursue against Powerboard if it so chooses. While these complaints center around Powerboard’s scooters (and scooter parts) it imports and sells, Segway could also pursue a patent infringement suit against Powerboard. Segway has a history of protecting its assets through patent infringement suits, as it filed suit against Washington’s Inventist, the seller of Hovertrax, in September, 2014.
Source: https://www.law360.com/ip/articles/840721/itc-initiates-investigation-for-segway-against-scooter-co-
For more information on this topic, please visit our Patent Infringement Defense service page, which is part of our Patent practice.
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