Judge Andrews of the Federal District Court in Delaware denied in full Echelon’s motion to dismiss, rejecting Echelon’s challenge to Peloton’s patent claims under Section 101 (commonly called an “Alice challenge”), paving the way for Peloton to pursue all of its claims.
Judge Andrews accepted Hueston Hennigan’s arguments in full, finding that Peloton’s complaint had clearly, specifically and plausibly alleged that the inventions described in Peloton’s patents – relating to Peloton’s revolutionary leaderboard technology – were not well-understood, routine or conventional.
“We are very pleased with Judge Andrews’s decision denying in full Echelon’s motion to dismiss Peloton’s patent claims, and appreciate that he adopted our reasoning as well,” said Hueston Hennigan lead counsel. “We look forward to proceeding toward trial.”
In October 2019, Peloton filed a lawsuit in Delaware federal court against competitor Echelon for patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade dress infringement and dilution, trade libel, false advertising and unfair business practices. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Echelon’s bike product, and its related app, infringes Peloton’s patented leaderboard technology, and that Echelon is intentionally misleading consumers with false comparisons between the Echelon and Peloton bikes.
Earlier this year, Peloton successfully settled its patent litigation with Flywheel Sports, Inc., with Flywheel publicly admitting that it had copied the Peloton bike in creating its at-home bike, and that Peloton had solely invented the leaderboard technology at issue.
Peloton is represented by Christy Von der Ahe Rayburn, Karen Younkins and Maxwell Coll.