On Friday, September 11, 2015, Segway Inc., DEKA Limited Partnership and Ninebot (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd. filed a Complaint for Patent Infringement in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against Inventist, Inc. It is Segway’s understanding that Inventist is in the business of designing and manufacturing products such as personal transporter devices; namely, the Solowheel Classic, Solowheel Extreme, Solowheel Orbit and Hovertrax products. The Complaint alleges that Inventist is infringing several of DEKA’s patents, which are licensed to Segway and Ninebot. Media inquiries can be directed to media@segway.com

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This is the second action initiated by Segway, Inc. over the last 12 months to protect its intellectual properties. Last year the US International Trade Commission launch an investigation into patent infringement by several China-based manufacturers of self-balancing devices. The various US-based importers and sellers of those products are also part of this investigation, which is currently ongoing. These legal actions are reminders that great risk lays ahead for those who import products into New Zealand that infringe Segway patents.