Judge Roy Payne of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas denied in full Flywheel Sports, Inc.’s bid to dismiss Peloton’s case under Section 101 (commonly called an “Alice challenge”), which means Peloton’s case against Flywheel moves forward to trial in June 2020.
In its Order, the Court rejected Flywheel’s argument that Peloton’s patents described inventions that were well-understood, routine and/or conventional, agreeing with Peloton that “at the very least, questions of fact remain.”
“We are thrilled with this victory and look forward to proceeding toward trial,” said Peloton’s lead counsel.
Peloton’s patents, which Flywheel unsuccessfully challenged, relate to Peloton’s state of the art leaderboard technology, which allows Peloton users to–for the first time ever–compete with a group of thousands of other riders in all corners of the world—even those riding at different times—and still easily see where his or her performance stands in comparison to the other riders at any given point in the class. When Peloton implemented these innovations in its Peloton Bike, it received universal praise from publications and fitness experts, who hailed the product as “category-creating,” “revolutionary,” and “the best cardio machine on the planet.”
Just last month, the Court denied Flywheel’s motion to stay the litigation, and granted Peloton’s motion for sanctions against Flywheel for discovery abuses.
Peloton is represented by Doug Dixon, Christina Von der Ahe Rayburn, Karen Younkins and Neil Anderson of Hueston Hennigan LLP.
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