Federal court upholds validity of Stan’s NoTubes patent

Decision confirms protection for patented rim design

BIG FLATS, NY (February 8, 2016) – Stan’s NoTubes, the New York-based manufacturer of innovative rims, wheels and tubeless products, prevailed at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a hard-fought battle against Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc. (“Specialized”). The Federal Circuit decision upholds a previous ruling by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which had declared Stan’s NoTubes’ U.S. Patent Number 7,334,846 to be valid.

“We are pleased to have reached a positive conclusion regarding our rim design patent. The court’s decision further strengthens our patent portfolio,” said Stan’s NoTubes co-owners Stan and Cindy Koziatek. “We look forward to continuing the advancement of tubeless wheels for all cycling applications.”

The Federal Circuit heard arguments from Stan’s NoTubes and Specialized on February 2, 2016. At oral argument, the Federal Circuit panel appeared to credit evidence showing the industry’s rapid adoption of Stan’s ZTR™ rims and praise for their patented features and suggested that this objective evidence helps demonstrate that the claims of the ’846 patent are valid. An audio recording of the argument is available at http://oralarguments.cafc.uscourts.gov/default.aspx?fl=2015-1412.mp3. On February 4, 2016, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s decision in a Rule 36 summary affirmance.

This matter began in 2008 when Specialized released rims that Stan’s NoTubes alleged to infringe the ’846 patent. Stan’s NoTubes was left with no choice but to protect its proprietary technology by suing to stop Specialized’s alleged infringement in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. A judgment was entered against Specialized in that case in 2015, with Specialized paying compensation to Stan’s NoTubes.

Stan’s NoTubes currently holds the following four U.S. patents related to the rims and wheels in its ZTR™ family of products with Bead Socket Technology:

–  U.S. Patent Number 7,334,846 (http://www.google.com/patents/US7334846)

–  U.S. Patent Number 8,007,053 (http://www.google.com/patents/US8007053)

–  U.S. Patent Number 8,613,485 (http://www.google.com/patents/US8613485)

–  U.S. Patent Number 9,162,524 (http://www.google.com/patents/US9162524)

Watch this blog for more posts in the coming weeks. I’m working on some thoughts, a little history of how MBR came to be, and more. In the meanwhile, if anything comes across our desk that is notable, we’ll post here. Feel free to contact Ben at [email protected] with any news, comments, questions, or anything else.