Exercise bike maker settles clash with rival

All litigation between the competitors is ended | Party agrees to stop using patent-protected leaderboard technology in its on-demand classes.

Exercise bike manufacturer Peloton and rival Echelon have settled all pending litigation between them, resolving a patent infringement suit brought by Peloton more than three years ago.

As part of the settlement—announced yesterday, 8 November—Echelon has agreed to stop using Peloton’s patent-protected leaderboard technology in its on-demand classes.

“The parties are pleased to put the litigation behind them and will have no further comment,” said a  release from the pair.

Additional terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Back in 2019, Peloton filed suit at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, accusing Echelon of patent, trademark and trade dress infringement.

Peloton claimed that Echelon was attempting to freeride off its innovative technology and “rather than develop new technology, Echelon chose to simply appropriate Peloton’s intellectual property and flood the market with cheap, copycat products”.

This case was stayed, pending an inter partes review of both patents named in the suit. I

In the final written decisions, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board concluded that claims of both patents were unpatentable. Peloton subsequently appealed.

Last year, Peloton escalated the dispute with another lawsuit which accused Echelon of copying its remote-workout technology.

Now, all pending litigation between the parties has been settled.

Earlier this year, Peloton also  settled its dispute with iFIT, six months after Peloton brought the complaint against its rival.

iFIT had also been accused of infringing the patent on Peloton’s interactive “leaderboard” technology. Peloton’s leaderboard measures a rider’s performance against other riders, with real-time performance and community engagement.