Following on from a lawsuit filed by Wahoo against Zwift back in October 2022, alleging that Zwift’s new Hub trainer infringed Wahoo’s patents, it has been confirmed that the lawsuit has been dropped. Zwift, a brand known for its indoor cycling equipment, had limited licenses for the JetBlack Volt bike from which they developed their latest product, the ‘Hub’. However, Wahoo, a fitness brand with an extensive range of fitness apparatus including smart trainers to adapt bikes for indoor training, alleged that Zwift’s smart cycling trainer, which enables users to train on their own bike from the comfort of their home, was a copy-cat and infringed three of their patents.
The three patents in question were 10,933,290 “Bicycle Trainer”, and 10,046,22 and 11,090,542 – both named “System and Method for Controlling a Bicycle Trainer”.
The JetBlack Volt bike, for which Zwift had limited license use, has been on the market for years so it is thought that the pricing of the new Zwift product may have triggered Wahoo’s defensive response.
However, it has since been announced that both parties have asked the court to dismiss the case and any counterclaims, and the parties are now working in collaboration with a limited license agreement and Zwift will return to selling a selection of Wahoo’s products – presumably as a goodwill gesture.
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