Hoverboards seized by US officials at CES show

US officials have raided a stand at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) because it was displaying hoverboards that are currently facing patent infringement claims.

Yesterday, January 7, government officials from the Department of Justice seized the single-wheel hoverboards made by Chinese company Changzhou First International Trade, following an emergency restraining order granted by a district court.

The Chinese company, which makes the Surfing Electric Scooter, is facing an infringement claim filed by Future Motion, a US-based start-up.

Future Motion developed its product, called the Onewheel, following a successful Kickstarter campaign where it raised $630,000, six times higher than its original target. It launched its product at the 2014 CES show.

The Onewheel is a hoverboard with a single wheel in the centre of the board. Users balance on the product by placing a foot on either side of the wheel.

Future Motion filed the claim on January 5 at the US District Court for the District of Nevada and applied for an emergency restraining order to prevent the company displaying the disputed products at the CES event in Las Vegas.

Kyle Doerksen, chief executive of Future Motion, said: “Knocking off an invention that is patented [protected] and carefully quality-controlled is a disservice and unsafe to consume.

“Future Motion welcomes fair competition, but companies that simply mimic Onewheel without the same technical know-how and safety assurances pose a threat not just to Future Motion, but to consumers and the industry at large,” he added.

Matthew Jones, partner at law firm EIP in London, told WIPR that Doerksen was "a bit off the mark" by referring to the Chinese company’s product as a "knock-off".

"Whether or not the Chinese company saw the US company’s product or patent and copied it is irrelevant to the question of patent infringement,” he added.