Who invented “hoverboard”? PatentYogi’s research finds the inventor of “hoverboard”.
These “Hoverboards” have become very popular recently. But they don’t actually hover, so technically, they are SELF-BALANCING SCOOTERS.
They look awesome and their market just exploded this year. They’re in MTV awards shows, and Justin Bieber videos, even Bollywood dance numbers and on city sidewalks.
Ironically, the devices themselves are exploding as well. One device burnt down a house in Louisiana. Another one caught fire in a mall in Washington. For safety reasons, major airlines have banned these devices. Most fires are attributed to low quality lithium-ion batteries.
Some unknown Chinese companies are making these devices. China’s hoverboard industry is already breathtakingly large.
Over 1,000 factories in the Shenzhen area are making hoverboards.
It was not yet clear who invented this device. That got us interested to find the real innovators of this device. PatentYogi’s expert patent search team conducted a patent landscape study for these hoverboards. We found some exciting facts.
“Chic Robotics” a Chinese company owns some interesting patents on hoverboards, including a US design patent for this device. Their Chinese utility model patent shows details of what’s inside the scooter. Chic Robotics is one of the mature players in the market.
Another key inventor of these devices is Shane Chen. With a patent priority from 2013, Shane Chen seems to be the original inventor of this device. He sells his device under the name Hovertrax. According to Shane Chen, the 200$-500$ price tag of a “Hoverboard” should be a red flag. The battery mixed with additional low quality components gets you a very low cost board, which might lead to fire. Hovertrax costs $1495.
Shane Chen is a serial inventor, just the kind that we at PatentYogi love to discover. He runs a website called inventist.com, where he has displayed his other awesome inventions. Aquaskipper, which was their first successful product. Another invention known as “Powerwing” was licensed by Razor. Another patented invention is “SoloWheel”
Chen says he got the idea for Hovertrax in September 2011, while trying to think up ideas for new toys. Chen built the first prototype, which he took to Toy Fair 2012, after filing a provisional patent. Shane Chen recently filed a patent infringement suit against Siobatian Corporation, a company that sells Chic robotics hoverboard in US, under the name IO Hawk.
Betting early on this potentially enormously profitable industry, Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, entered this market. He signed a letter of intent to buy exclusive rights to Chen’s patent license. Although later he relinquished Hold on the Patent. Cuban plans to file his own patents on a new hoverboard.
So the market is going to heat up further very soon. Follow us to track updates on hoverboard patents.
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