It was always going to happen at some stage - Dainese and Alpinestars appear to be in legal dispute over their airbag technology designs.
Alpinestars has responded to Dainese sending some of its German dealers "cease and desist from selling" threats with a statement that seeks to correct what it sees as erroneous press reports about an allegation by Dainese that it has infringed patents connected with the gas inflation technology and construction of its Tech-Air Street Airbag system.
The allegations made by Dainese S.p.A in proceedings launched in Italy against Alpinestars refer to the assembly of the bag itself, the physical material piece that contains the gas in an inflation and "not with any reference to any other parts or Alpinestars’ Tech-Air street system’s use of an algorithm for registering when the airbag deployment should occur".
Alpinestars says that Dainese instead "makes claims that the physical construction of the bag in the Tech-Air system infringes upon Dainese patents" and that "in Germany, Dainese has made direct requests to certain retailers, that they cease and desist from offering for sale the Alpinestars Tech-Air Street system" but that "no legal action has been taken against Alpinestars and neither has Alpinestars withdrawn any of its products from the German market".
Launched in November 2014, Alpinestars says its Tech-Air Street system was the world’s first "self-contained street airbag system that independently functions without the need for sensors to be installed on the bike and the subsequent need to link a specific motorcycle to the airbag system used by the rider".
Alpinestars says that all claims made against them and/or their retailers by Dainese "are disputed" and that it is "taking the appropriate legal measures to ensure that any such unfounded allegations will not prevent distribution and sales of the Tech-Air Street system".
Alpinestars points to its own research and development at its in-house Advanced Technology Department, undertaken since 2001, and says that its Tech-Air Street system is based on its own technology creation, and the physical bag used is from "known airbag technology, used within the automotive industry", and that it "does not infringe upon third parties' intellectual property rights".
www.alpinestars.com
www.dainese.com
