The two-wheeled scooters called “hoverboards” have been causing trouble for transit: prone to igniting while charging due to faulty batteries, they’re banned from many public places and public transportation, including airports. Now, the United States International Trade Commission has put an all-encompassing ban on importing hoverboards that isn’t spurred by fire.
Instead, Segway has taken out a patent complaint against 13 companies which make hoverboards. Segway claims that companies including UPTECH, FreeGo China, Roboscooters, U.P. Technology, U.P. Robotics and EcoBoomer have infringed on some of Segway’s 400 patents on personal vehicle balancing technology. In the case of EcoBoomer, the company has also been forbidden from selling hoverboards which have already been imported into the United States.
(AP Photo)In particular, Segway is calling out the use of a personal transporter and the mechanism used to keep it upright as the particular patent which stakes their claim on some hoverboard technology.
If a company does want to import hoverboards into the United States temporarily, they will have to post a bond covering the cost of the hoverboard.
Like the boards themselves, their legal status in the United States is undergoing a balancing act, with a reputation for fires and several legal battles over patents making the business thorny at both beginning and end.
(Via Gizmodo.)
