Thursday, 28 March 2024
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Peloton embroiled in patent lawsuit with rival

Peloton, the maker of indoor fitness bikes, has brought a lawsuit against its rival Flywheel Sports, accusing them of copying its technology by using the company’s patent.

The New York-based company is suing Flywheel Sports for stealing the technology, which allows users to stream live and archived cycling classes while tracking and comparing rider performance through the exercise bike.

Peloton claims that Flywheel Sports, founded in 2010, made a copycat of Peleton’s bike called the Fly Anywhere bike, which uses the same technology as Peloton’s model.

Peloton filed the lawsuit yesterday at the U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas.

It is alleged that financier Michael Milken approached Peloton chief exec John Foley as a potential investor and obtained information about the company’s technology and business strategy.

Peloton accuse Milken of passing on this information to Flywheel Sports, after failing to disclose the multi-million dollar investment he had made in the rival company. However, Milken is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

This is only the latest development in a year of lengthy and complicated legal disputes for Peloton.

Previously, the company came under legal fire after the designer who built the company’s stationary fitness bike waged a lawsuit against them for patent infringement.

The patent in question covers the rights to, “computerised fitness equipment that is designed to simulate, emulate or implement actual race conditions with other users.”

The designer, Eric Villency, co-founded a company called VR-Optics in 2016, and after acquiring the patent from Microsoft, sued Peloton for infringing on it.

Peloton launched a counter-claim against Villency, accusing him of attempting to sell the patent to its competitors at Flywheel Sports. The outcome of this particular lawsuit can be found here.

The current legal dispute between Peloton and Flywheel Sports is ongoing.

Peloton also manufactures cycling footwear and accessories alongside its stationary fitness bike. Last month the company announced it is now worth more than $4 billion, after raising $550 million in Series F financing.