What are your thoughts on the cost of bikes and do you think that things have gone too far? If you are in the market for a new bike or anything else cycling-related make sure to head over to our dedicated buying guide page for all the information you could possibly need. Ultimately as consumers, we have the ability to vote with our money on what we are willing to buy and how hyper mountain bike much we are willing to pay for it. Although the rising cost of superbikes does not directly affect most of us, they do appear to be dragging the prices of lower-spec bikes up with them too. Motorbikes, on the other hand, have reached something of a plateau in terms of big step changes in development. A motorbike made in 2023 is going to be very similar to one made in 2003.
Not long ago bikes costing £/$/€10,000 we deemed to be hyperbikes and now for some brands they aren’t even the top tier offering. Plaintiff’s approach hews more closely to precedent, especially that of this district. As acknowledged by Judges Young and Woodlock, however, in Reddy and DePaoli, it would be well within the Court’s discretion to provide some verbal construction at a reduced level of detail than that proposed by defendant. One of the beautiful things about our sport is the ability to ride on the same roads as the pros and – if you have the desire – the same kit. With deep enough pockets, you can buy the exact bikes that the best riders in the world use at races like the Tour de France. Although they may be eye wateringly expensive, the fact that you can ride exactly what the best in the world do is not something that can be said about motorbikes.
It observes that the Federal Circuit in Egyptian Goddess stated that it may be helpful for the court to point out various features of the claimed design as they relate to the accused design and the prior art. 543 F.3d at 680. It then cites Lanard Toys, Ltd. v. Dolgencorp, LLC, a case in which the Federal Circuit, reviewing the verbal construction of a design patent, approvingly concluded that the lower court had followed the Egyptian Goddess standard “to a tee”. Defendant submits that Lanard controls the present case, or at least provides more authoritative guidance than DePaoli and Reddy.
Although cosmetically things will change, a lot of the underpinnings of the motorbike will either be the same, similar, or have seen a steady refinement over the years. Designing, testing, and refining these new products takes a hyper bike considerable amount of research and development, which all costs money. The Court adopts this construction without prejudice to its ultimate jury instruction on functional versus ornamental elements or any other related factors.
This is flipped on its head in the cycling world, with brands offering multiple different build kits and different frames to accommodate every type of budget, rider, and preference. Some bike brands have over 10 different sizes for the same bike and can even make the same bike out of different materials. That’s nearly three times the amount of motorbikes that were sold over the same period.
The Federal Circuit has instructed that a design patent’s claim is often better represented by illustrations than a written claim construction. Sport Dimension, Inc. v. Coleman Co., 820 F.3d 1316, 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (citing Egyptian Goddess, 543 F.3d at 679 ). Consequently, the preferable course for a district court ordinarily will be not to attempt to “construe” a design patent by providing a detailed verbal description of the claimed design. Defendant rejoins that a verbal construction of claims explicitly excluding functional elements, as it has proposed, is more appropriate.