PTAB to review Peloton patents after challenge from Flywheel
The US Patent Trial and Appeal Board ( PTAB) is to review a patent owned by exercise equipment maker Peloton Interactive after a challenge from a competitor, Flywheel Sports.
On Wednesday, June 5, PTAB said it had instituted an inter partes review of three of Peloton’s patents (US numbers 9,174,085; 9,233,276 B; and 9,861,855 B2).
PTAB said it will review claims 1-12 of the ‘085 patent, and claims 1-20 of the ‘276 and ‘855 patent.
The patents in dispute cover exercise systems consisting of stationary exercise bicycles equipped with a display screen that allows the user to fully participate in live instructor-led cycling classes from any location.
The disputes dates to September 2018, when Peloton sued Flywheel. Peloton said Flywheel’s at-home bike technology infringed its patents.
Flywheel denied infringement, and asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to revoke Peloton’s patents, arguing that Peloton’s technology was obvious in light of prior art.
In its argument, Flywheel said the patents were obvious in light of three existing US patents (US numbers 9,283,429 and 7,628,730 B) and one international patent (International number 2005/087323).
In its decision, PTAB said Flywheel had demonstrated a “reasonable likelihood of prevailing with respect to at least one of the challenged claims”.
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