Peloton Bike

How Peloton Uses Patents to Crush Competitors and How You Can Too

Litigation, Patents, Trademarks / By / April 29, 2021

The wild success of Peloton shows the immense power of patents and how they can become absolutely essential to the success and longevity of your company, especially if you are a startup. A well thought out and executed patent portfolio isn’t optional anymore.

Peloton is aggressively using its patents to maintain its leadership. Some are skeptical as to the strength of their patents. Nonetheless, patents are clearly an important – and successful – part of their strategy to stop competitors and project a powerful marketing image.

By many standards, Peloton doesn’t even have that large of a US patent portfolio. A search for Peloton’s patents uncovered 16 issued patents, half of them design patents. One simply claims the GUI for the portion of their screen that says “Leaderboard”.

Nevertheless, Peloton has maintained its leadership and shows no sign of being stopped by anyone. After being sued by Peloton for patent infringement, Flywheel announced last year that they will stop selling stationary bikes and in-home fitness classes. Flywheel then filed for bankruptcy.

Peloton has itself been been the target of patent infringement suits. Icon, maker of NordicTrack, and Peloton have sued each other several times. Both companies have been using their patents to strike and counterstrike each other, illustrating the offensive and defensive ways that patents can be used as part of a business strategy to maintain market dominance. Perhaps Icon and Peloton will eventually agree to a patent cross-licensing deal. Time will tell.

Other companies that have sued Peloton include Madd Dogg Athletics who own the trademark registration for SPINNING, Echelon Fitness (maker of a competitive stationary bike), and Dish Technologies (who own Sling TV) for video streaming technology that they say is central to Peloton’s success. Peloton is fighting back hard and has the patents and other tools at its disposal to do so.

Patents can be used offensively to discourage and stop competitors, defensively to fend off attacks from competitors, and cooperatively in cross-licensing agreements that benefit all parties. They can also be used to project a market-leading image.

Contact me to strategize about how patents can play a role in the success of your business.

(Featured image courtesy of One Peloton)

(Sources: Above The Law – Patent Pedaling With Peloton (Part I): Downhill, and Patent Pedaling With Peloton (Part II): Uphill)

Eye Sweat Diverter Patent Took 15 Years to Get

How Long Does It Take to Get a Patent?

Inventions, Patents, USPTO / By / April 23, 2021

In the case of this patent for an eyebrow sweat diverter, nearly 15 years!

I get asked the question a lot. It varies based on the technology classification and other factors. Simple design patents can issue within approximately 18 months. Complex software patents can take several years. The USPTO has a patent dashboard that gives current pendency data and other interesting statistics.

Patent Dashboard Pendency March 2021
Patents Data Visualization Center March 2021

As of March 2021, there were over 619,000 unexamined patent applications. It takes on average over 16 months from the time you file your patent application until it is examined and you are issued an office action. The office action usually contains page after page of rejections. You must respond to those rejections and then may receive another round of rejections to which you must respond. And so forth. This back and forth can take some time.

The USPTO reports that, on average, it takes nearly two years from the time you file to the time your patent application until it is granted. However, my experience is often different. In the complex areas I work in with many startups – software, telecommunications, AI, blockchain, internet – I have found that typical pendency times are significantly longer. There are ways to speed up the examination of your patent application, but there are often costs associated with doing so that must be carefully considered.

Filling a patent application is the start of a long complex legal process with no guarantee that your application will ever mature into an issued patent. As a startup or entrepreneur with limited funds it is imperative you do things right from the start. Contact us to get started. We’ll answer all of your questions and set you down the path to success.

Boeing Loses Important Communications Patent Over a Misplaced Comma

EPO, Litigation, Patents / By / April 22, 2021

The European Patent Office has nullified a patent from massive aerospace company Boeing because of the inconsistent placement of a comma in a claim. Airbus, a competitor to Boeing, opposed the patent for a multi-network aircraft communication system. Boeing fought for nearly nine years to keep the patent in-force. This was clearly an important patent for Boeing.

One thing I try to get across to entrepreneurs with big aspirations is that writing patents is extraordinarily complex and, quoting directly from the Supreme Court, “constitute one of the most difficult legal instruments to draw with accuracy.” Even where you put a comma in a single claim in a document with thousands of words and dozens of pages can make the difference between a valuable patent and a worthless one.

Good patent prosecutors are expensive for a reason. Cutting corners to save money and taking the attitude that any attorney can do the job as well as the next can be catastrophic, as we see here. Getting a patent is one thing. Getting a good, enforceable patent that your company can rely on is a totally different ballgame.

At Patent Authority we don’t misplace commas. Contact us to make sure your patents are done right.

https://www.juve-patent.com/news-and-stories/cases/fatal-comma-error-epo-nullifies-boeing-communication-patent/

USPTO Patents Humanity

USPTO announces special Patents for Humanity COVID-19 category

Patents, USPTO / By / April 5, 2021

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced that it will be launching a special category of its Patents for Humanity Program for inventions that address the COVID-19 pandemic. This new award category will provide business incentives for patent applicants, holders, and licensees whose inventions track, prevent, diagnose, or treat COVID-19.

https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/patent-policy/patents-humanity

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