The Inventist Hovertrax is a $US1500 auto-balancing skateboard that is very much not a hoverboard. It is also, according to Segway, in violation of a bunch of patents.
According to the lawsuit, filed Friday in Delaware, Inventist is in violation of five of Segway’s patents. In particular, it’s violating US Patent 6,302,230, for an “automatically balancing vehicle” that carries a user.
Seems like it should be a wash, right? Not so fast: because of the magical way in which the US Patent and Trademark Office works, Inventist has its own patent for a “two-wheel, self-balancing personal vehicle having independently movable foot placement sections”.
It’s unclear who is going to win this (apart from the lawyers), but at least we might get a clear legal opinion on whether or not it’s a hoverboard.