Favorable verdict for Inventist in IO Hawk lawsuit for patent Infringement

If Hovertrax isn't on the product- It is infringing. 

Inventist, the inventor of the Hovertrax (also known as self-balancing scooter and hoverboard) has now won its first case against the largest of the patent infringing companies, IO Hawk, and will continue to seek all that violate its patent.  Anyone who willingly and knowingly sells infringing units is subject to potential liabilities. Inventist is now actively moving to stop shipments of infringing units at port and have recently detained six large containers of illegal goods headed for the US. 

Inventist owns U.S. Patent No. 8738287 (the ‘278 Patent), which is directed to self-balancing vehicles with independent foot platforms.  The Patent covers the recent wave of self-balancing vehicles that are infringing, selling under various names including ChicSmart, PhunkeeDuck, Swagway and E-Boards. Vehicles may have slight variations in outer shell designs and or features such as lights or Bluetooth. The ‘278 patent is broad and covers all of these variations.  The patent covers motorized self-balancing scooters with independent foot placement controls.  Regardless of variations in design and features, if it doesn’t say Hovertrax - it is infringing.

The Hovertrax can be purchased at Brookstone stores nationwide starting in December and online now at Brookstone.com and Inventist.com

A Timeline of Events:

• Shane Chen filed a U.S. patent for his device Feb. 11 2013.
  • This patent was approved May 27, 2014.
• Chen filed for a Chinese patent March 20, 2013.
  • The patent was granted August 28, 2013.
• The Hovertrax Kickstarter video was published on YouTube Feb 25, 2014.
• August 21, 2014, Chic publishes their video for the Chic S1.
• In fall of 2014, Chic brought the S1 to the 116th Canton fair.
• PhunkeeDuck.com is registered Jan 29, 2015.
• IOHawk.com is registered Dec 17, 2014.
• IO Hawk showed off their devices at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
• The lawsuit, mentioned here: http://nheller.com/a-game-of-hoverboards/, states that:
  • “At the CES trade show, representatives from Inventist inspected the IO HAWK Product and advised John Soibatian of Soibatian Corporation that the IO HAWK Product infringed the ‘278 Patent. Representatives from Inventist showed Mr. Soibatian the ‘278 Patent. Accordingly, Soibatian has had actual notice of Inventist’s claim of infringement since on or about January 9, 2015. Soibatian denied infringement.”
  • “On January 22, 2015, counsel for Inventist and Mr. Chen sent Soibatian a detailed letter explaining how the IO HAWK product infringed the ‘278 Patent, and requested that Soibatian cease and desist the infringing acts. Upon information and belief, both the notice at the CES trade show and the letter notice of January 22nd were prior to Soibatian’s first sale of an infringing IO HAWK device. Yet, despite this notice and explanation, Soibatian began to sell the IO HAWK product in approximately February 2015 and has continued to infringe since that time, including expanding promotion of the infringing IO HAWK product.”
• As of August 26th 2015, Mark Cuban told TMZ that he had partnered with Chen around August 12th 2015.
• June 16th 2015, Chen launched his lawsuit against IO Hawk.
• November 2015, Chen revokes the partnership with Cuban and moves forward with a partnership with Razor Industries.
• December 2015, Hovertrax can be seen nationwide in large retail locations. 

Joalene Jolivette

Marketing Director

jjolivette@inventist.com

360-833-2357 Ext 310

Inventist, Inc

4910 NW Camas Meadows Drive

Camas, WA 98607

360-833-2357

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