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Patent Battle May Loom Over 'Copenhagen Wheel' Electric Bike

Posted by timothy on from the kumbaya-my-lord-kumbaya dept.

curtwoodward writes "Nearly four years after the concept was introduced, MIT spinout Superpedestrian has started selling its $700 'Copenhagen wheel' kits that promise to turn any old bike into an electric-powered, smartphone-connected dynamo, simply by swapping out the back wheel. But they're not alone: a competing startup called FlyKly has already raised $700,000 worth of pre-orders for a similar device. Superpedestrian, which holds exclusive license to the MIT patents covering the Copenhagen wheel, clearly thinks there's some foul play going on. 'Their founder actually dropped by our lab at MIT a year and a half ago, saying he wants to collaborate, and spent quite some time with the Copenhagen wheel team. We'll leave it at that,' Superpedestrian founder Assaf Biderman said."

3 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. More Cloud Bullshit by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    Superpedestrianâ(TM)s products: those red-disc equipped rear bike wheels, housing a sophisticated battery-powered drive system built with U.S.-made parts that can connect to the Internet to learn about its ownerâ(TM)s riding habits.

    Fuck no.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  2. Re:Why Bother? by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem with electric bikes is that it doesn't fix the root problem, which is, that the person is out of shape.

    Electric bikes with throttles won't. But electric assist does require some effort, and thus will help the unfit to get fitter.

    It's all very well saying that an unassisted bike will get a person fit, but that will never happen if the person feels they are too unfit to get started. And whilst you might say they can start with short distances, most people want to cycle to commute, and that is a fixed distance.

    And don't forget that many people will live in terrain that's hillier than where you live.

  3. Where's the story? by Krazy+Kanuck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So we have a link to a story about Company A who has exclusive license to use BigShot school's patents to make a fancy wheel and at the end of the article the reporter asks Company A whats they think about Company B's simliar product. The CEO says "Company B CEO came by 18 months ago wanted to co-lab, hung out and left, but I haven't looked at his patents" and we're slashdotting "impending legal doom", yet neither side has said boo to that nature or is there any other relevant link to anything remotely newsworthy. Where's the story?