Federal Circuit Upholds the Axing of Hoverboard Patent Suit

A judge was right to toss a lawsuit from owners of four design patents against a group of Chinese e-commerce stores that sell electric scooters marketed as hoverboards, according to the Federal Circuit.

The targeted hoverboards share an hourglass shape with drawings from the design patents owned by the Chinese tech company, Hangzhou Chic Intelligent Technology Co. But the district court “appropriately examined” other stylistic differences between the patents and the products when finding no infringement, wrote Judge Raymond T. Chen in a Thursday opinion.

Chen noted that the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois properly ...