Following @efoilfun post:
LIFT pretends that WAYDOO infringe two of LIFT patents. Those patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 9,359,044 (the, '“044 Patent”) and 9,586,659 (the, '" 659 Patent") (collectively, the"Asserted Patents")
25 pages about the 2023 Feb. 3rd decision, preliminary step of a long route:
Useful: MHL Custom, Inc. v. Waydoo U.S., Civil Action 21-0091-RGA | Casetext Search + Citator
To help:
New step in the trial, dated March 20th, 2023
2008-2009 Prior art is slowly/partly being recognized…
Plaintiffs [LIFT] sought to exclude the Swedish magazine, Batnytt. (D.I. 180 at 2).
I [judge] determined the magazine was admissible.
[...]
I find the screenshot of the webpage (D.I. 196-4, Ex. D) referencing the
Evolo Report is admissible for limited purposes. Defendants [Waydoo] may use
the webpage as evidence that the Evolo Report was publicly accessible prior to
the priority date of Plaintiffs patents.
2023-03-20 episode: https://www.ded.uscourts.gov/sites/ded/files/opinions/21-0091.pdf
MHL Custom, Inc. v. Waydoo U.S., Inc., Civil Action 21-0091-RGA | Casetext Search + Citator?
That’s behind login. Which parts of the board was ‘supposedly’ the two infringements?
Too early for a public organisation. The following link with all the details will be updated within a couple of days:
https://www.ded.uscourts.gov/search/node/waydoo
Another privately managed organisation login link: “MHL Custom wins patent suit”
The reality is if lift bought the rights from evolo and controls those rights, then they have bandwidth to sue. I can easily see the US awarding them a lawsuit over China in their own country, but it would be interesting to see what would happens on an international level…
What would also be interesting is if a company sold their boards at a component level and not complete kit and customers needed to purchase the right components and the click everything into place. Could lift actually do anything about that at all…
Eg. Waydoo could sell a complete kit in most countries except for the US where you add a mast unit, board, battery, and bag to your cart… And then do the purchase
Is an appeal possible in intellectual property trials ?
It seems like Waydoo lost the battle:
“MHL Custom sued Waydoo for allegedly infringing on two U.S. Patents related to a personal hydrofoil watercraft called an eFoil. Following a jury trial, Waydoo was found to have infringed on MHL’s patents and ordered to pay $1,334,000 in damages. Waydoo challenged various aspects of the trial, including the validity of a prior art report, the enablement of MHL’s patents, and the clarity and validity of the patents themselves. However, the court denied Waydoo’s motions, upholding the jury’s decision. Ultimately, the final ruling favored MHL Custom in the patent infringement case against Waydoo.”
@SoEFoil Looks like BRP picked up where FOIL left off and ended up settling with MHL. Patent challenge is dead, likely forever. Makes sense that they would not let the patent be judged and keep its validity neither confirmed nor denied. Wonder what the settlement was though.
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/ptab-filings%2FIPR2024-00086%2F43
17th June 2024, an agreement was found, looks like the final episode…
A motion filed by MHL Custom, Inc. against WA YDOO USA, Inc. and SHENZHEN WA YDOO INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. MHL Custom had sought a permanent injunction or an alteration to a prior order regarding ongoing royalties.
Initially, the defendants [Waydoo] were uncooperative in royalty negotiations. However, following a change in legal counsel, the parties resumed discussions and eventually agreed on the ongoing royalties. The court approved this agreement on June 17, 2024. As a result of this stipulation, the court dismissed MHL Custom’s original motion as moot, finding no further need for adjudication.
@SoEFoil you are linking the waydoo case, the Patent case originally filed by FOIL is more important, the patent board thought evidence was good enough to bring a review. The waydoo case was decided by a Jury, patent board is a different situation. This would have been justice for Evolo.
BRP (ski doo) was able to take over the challenge from FOIL and then decided to settle with MHL. Now BRP and MHL probably are benefitting from the waydoo license fees somehow.
MHL bought the original patent from Evolo. No one can challenge that…
You may be confused on that one. The patent in question was filed by an American inventor in 2014. MHL gained access to it probably though a purchase.
Both Waydoo and FOIL used Evolo as evidence the efoil invention was publicly known before the patent was granted. Both the waydoo case and the FOIL patent challenge rely in part on whether Evolo is considered prior art and was publicly accessible before the patent was granted.
The jury of citizens felt that evolo was not prior art. The patent board may have had a different way to interpret that same evidence.
I was linking because the post called "MHL vs Waydoo trial " has come to an end with the June 2024 settlement.
Can the patent board position still evolve or is it final ?