Chinese Hoverboard Maker Raided by Feds at CES

There was a little bit of unexpected excitement at the CES in Las Vegas this week when federal agents raided the booth of a Chinese hoverboard maker.

Bloomberg was able to get a video of U.S. Marshals closing down the booth of Changzhou First International Trade Co. and seizing all of its one-wheeled skateboards as well as its signs and other promotional material.

The skateboards, known as the Trotter, have one large wheel in the center.

The problem? An American company claims the Trotter infringes its patent for a self-balancing electric skateboard named Onewheel. Admittedly, the two products are very similar.

The company, Future Motion, sent members of its legal team with the marshals to witness the raid.

“Would we have done this without the design patent being issued? The answer is we wouldn’t have bothered,” a lawyer for Future Motion, Shawn Kolitch, told Bloomberg. “If you can show the design patent drawing next to an accused product side by side, and they look identical, it helps your case.”

Kolitch said before going to the feds, Future Motion did try to deal directly with Changzhou First International. After learning about the Trotter late last year, Future Motion sent a cease and desist letter to the Chinese company. When that didn’t work, Kolitch said the company tried to approach the people at the booth the day before CES’s show floor opened. Once again, he said, there was no response.

The Silicon Valley firm made its own prototype some years back and presented the gadget at CES 2014 and launched a corresponding Kickstarter campaign.

Jennifer Cowan is the Managing Editor for SiteProNews.

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