It’s been going back and forth for a while, but it seems that Dave Weagle will be having his day in court over allegations that Trek’s Active Braking Pivot suspension design infringes upon two of his Split Pivot patents.
Both Trek and Dave Weagle have separat
e patents on their suspension designs, both of which use concentric dropout pivot points.
However, Dave Weagle has filed a legal complaint in Trek’s home state of Wisconsin claiming that their system infringes two of his patents, asking for compensation “in no event less than a reasonable royalty”, with an additional demand that Trek cease to use the design.
According to legal documents posted on Bicycle Retailer’s story, in early 2007 Dave Weagle had approached Trek with a proposal to work together with a suspension system. It’s stated that after both parties signed a non-disclosure agreement, he emailed a Powerpoint presentation containing details and diagrams of his then ‘Patent Pending’ Split Pivot design to Trek.
He alleges that around a month after receiving his presentation on the Split Pivot system, Trek filed a patent application which would later be granted as the ABP patent.
Trek are quoted as saying that they’ll fight the suit, although they still have a number of weeks before they must reply.
Both patents mention the design’s ability to isolate braking forces from the suspension, but both differ in specified details. Trek’s (granted 23rd November 2010) mentions tyre contact patch in-depth while Weagle’s (granted 18th May 2010) contains a lot of detail on instant pivot point location – we’re no patent lawyers however.
The concentric pivot system is nothing new in itself, having been used on the Crestone Peak Super Active Suspension bike back in the 1990s. Indeed, Trek’s patent counsel is alleged to have sent an email to the prosecuting attorney on the Split Pivot Patents pointing out this ‘prior art’, but Weagle’s Split Pivot patents were still granted.
For the full story and links to the various patents and court document, head to the Bicycle Retailer story…
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Go for it Dave!
Dear Trek, That don’t smell good. love Bill.
It smells very fishy!
I used to have one of those Crwstone Peak frames, sold under another name – MutzNutz IIRC – it was great for a rubber band powered FSer, and one of the first with triple clamp forks.
TBH the ride was remarkably good considering the technology at the time. The main pivot rotated around the BB as well, which probably helped with the lack of pedal feedback.
This article would be better if the photo of Dave had him with a grumpy face.