Jump to content

Solowheel searching for the VP


vladmarks

Recommended Posts

•Develop strategies on how to position Solowheel USA brands against illegally made and imported knockoffs.

•Manage lawyers to enforce company patents worldwide.

 

I'm seeing lots of other than Solowheels (and maybe InMotions, if the rumors about the co-operation are true) blocked in the US customs and a good few fights in courts about patents and such in the coming years...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, esaj said:

•Develop strategies on how to position Solowheel USA brands against illegally made and imported knockoffs.

•Manage lawyers to enforce company patents worldwide.

 

I'm seeing lots of other than Solowheels (and maybe InMotions, if the rumors about the co-operation are true) blocked in the US customs and a good few fights in courts about patents and such in the coming years...

Potentially, that would be derivative from producing/importing their own goods at a larger scale and involving a larger chunk of investments to invest into marketing/R&D (Inmotion's input?), and sales channels. 

Might still be too early to speculate, but that, together with the rumoured acquisition, only leaves me wonder about the grand plans we're about to witness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, esaj said:

•Develop strategies on how to position Solowheel USA brands against illegally made and imported knockoffs.

•Manage lawyers to enforce company patents worldwide.

 

I'm seeing lots of other than Solowheels (and maybe InMotions, if the rumors about the co-operation are true) blocked in the US customs and a good few fights in courts about patents and such in the coming years...

This is kind of scary. Imagine being limited to only Solowheel's. Everyone should start stocking up on their favorite wheels now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Marty Backe said:

This is kind of scary. Imagine being limited to only Solowheel's. Everyone should start stocking up on their favorite wheels now.

I think Inventist blocked a bunch of Ninebots(?) in the customs for a while back in 2015, but they were eventually let go? Not sure on the details, maybe Inventist (which apparently didn't have much money back then) backed off after starting to calculate what a court battle would cost... if they now get their war chest, it might get ugly. Or not, I'm just guessing ;)  From the little that I know, Shane Chen hasn't been exactly delighted with the popularity of EUCS/hoverboards that aren't Solowheels/Hovertrax's 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, esaj said:

I think Inventist blocked a bunch of Ninebots(?) in the customs for a while back in 2015, but they were eventually let go? Not sure on the details, maybe Inventist (which apparently didn't have much money back then) backed off after starting to calculate what a court battle would cost... if they now get their war chest, it might get ugly. Or not, I'm just guessing ;)  From the little that I know, Shane Chen hasn't been exactly delighted with the popularity of EUCS/hoverboards that aren't Solowheels/Hovertrax's 

Shane Chen is not competitive. He invented an amazing device and then proceeded to sit on his laurels. People will find a way to get what they want (better EUCs) no matter what road blocks he attempts to put in place. His best bet is to continue innovating and win via the marketplace instead of lawyers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

Shane Chen is not competitive. He invented an amazing device and then proceeded to sit on his laurels. People will find a way to get what they want (better EUCs) no matter what road blocks he attempts to put in place. His best bet is to continue innovating and win via the marketplace instead of lawyers.

I can imagine the frustration, if you spend a lot of time (and probably lot of money too) to come up with a new innovation and then see copycats taking over the market place. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of patenting an "idea", as in, think if there was only one car manufacturer in the world and no other company was allowed to build a similar vehicle. Of course outright copying (stealing) design, electronics and software is another matter, but at least the newer wheels aren't copies of the Inventist products.

Hopefully they'll concentrate on beating the competition with better wheels rather than fighting it out in court.

 

Here's a couple of news-pieces of the earlier battle:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/segway-inventist-patent-battle-marty-822419

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-counterfeit-20150531-story.html

http://www.inventist.com/blog/129334714360/ninebot-retaliates-to-infringement-suit

Let’s cut to the chase. Segway is indeed suing us. Why? A few months ago we filed suit in China against Ninebot, a Chinese company, for patent infringement with their “Ninebot One”, an electric unicycle similar to our popular product the Solowheel. Then, on June 1st 2015 Inventist successfully detained a large Ninebot One shipment heading out of China. (Chinese customs has the authority to detain any goods that are infringing on a granted patent.) These events signify a giant step forward for US companies who are dealing with counterfeit goods being manufactured in China and then shipped out and sold all over the world.

The order of events is a bit unclear, but it seems that Inventist first managed to detain a Ninebot One shipment, to which Ninebot / Segway then retaliated with suing Inventist... Don't know what happened then, haven't been following up on it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, esaj said:

I think Inventist blocked a bunch of Ninebots(?) in the customs for a while back in 2015, but they were eventually let go?

Keep in mind that companies like Ninebot have enough leverage to acquire licenses to avoid patent infringement, while the small guy can't. Wasn't that what happened in 2015? A sort of settlement via licensing?

 

17 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

His best bet is to continue innovating and win via the marketplace instead of lawyers.

We could potentially see a combination of both. With the current market conditions they're very unlikely to step up their market share gain without a solid vanguard of lawyers/IP solicitors and significant support from the US trading standards. They probably wouldn't want to go unprotected after the hoverboard craze and EUC hassle. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's hope Solowheel is as motivated and competent in patent related shenanigans as they are in producing competitive EUCs at competive prices and expanding the EUC market :facepalm:

Maybe Chen will just get bored with patent stuff if it takes long enough, just like it looks he got bored running an actual company and market strategy after the invention phase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/31/2017 at 2:14 AM, Marty Backe said:

Shane Chen is not competitive. He invented an amazing device and then proceeded to sit on his laurels. People will find a way to get what they want (better EUCs) no matter what road blocks he attempts to put in place. His best bet is to continue innovating and win via the marketplace instead of lawyers.

I'm not even sure he "invented" it. Focus design appear to have made the electronics and software. They had an electric unicycle for sale in 2008, to me it looks like inventist licensed the design and just deleted the seat then designed the plastic case.

http://focusdesigns.com/about/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...