Earlier this month, ICON Health & Fitness filed a lawsuit against Peloton over allegations that Peloton infringed on its patents.
Peloton is on the receiving end of a lawsuit over allegations that the company’s exercise bikes “infringed on its patents.” The suit was filed by the company behind the NordicTrack at-home fitness bikes, ICON Health & Fitness. According to the lawsuit, Peloton infringed “on two ICON-developed features.”
In the suit, the company argued that Peloton “used patented features, an auto-follow that controls the resistance of its bikes and swivel screens for easier off-bike exercise — originally designed by ICON.” Just last month, Peloton announced that the new features would be on its new Bike Plus, which costs about $2,500. The suit states:
“ICON is unfortunately accustomed to having companies copy its technology. Some companies, like Peloton, have built (at least in part) entire businesses on the back of ICON’s patented technology.”
The suit also states that ICON received a patent for the “resistance level feature, which Peloton calls Auto-Follow, in 2007, and a second patent last year that allows for a seamless mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercise.” Both popular features are included in the Bike+, Peloton’s latest offering, and several NordicTrack products from Logan, Utah-based ICON.
This isn’t the first ‘bout of litigation between the two companies. Earlier this year, Peloton sued ICON over claims that “its interactive fitness program and engaged in false advertising.” When commenting on the latest lawsuit, Steven Feldman of Hueston Hennigan LLP, Peloton’s outside legal counsel, said:
“Today’s filing is nothing more than a continuation of the litigation that Peloton filed against ICON earlier this year, and is a retaliatory filing intended to deflect attention away from ICON’s blatant infringement of Peloton’s leaderboard technology and other deceptive practices. We will vigorously defend this case in court.”
ICON has since pushed back against Feldman’s statement and said it “obtained hundreds of patents on the systems,” long before Peloton was even a company. The company also noted that John Foley, the Chief Executive Officer for Peloton, even met with “ICON in 2013 in an attempt to use some of its patents and that ICON declined the opportunity to grant him a license.” During that meeting, and meetings that followed, “Foley was warned against infringing ICON’s patents.”
At the moment, ICON is seeking unspecified damages, as well as an injunction against sales. The company was recently valued at $7 billion. Peloton is currently worth more than $37 billion, a number that has skyrocketed since going public back in 2019.
Sources:
Peloton Sued by NordicTrack Maker Over Latest Bike Tech
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