Alpinestars RESPONDS to airbag system patent infringement.

On February 7, the Higher Regional Court of Munich judged that Alpinestars’ Tech-Air vests infringes upon a patent (EP 2 412 257 B1) held by Dainese.

Alpinestars wants to clarify that this action never involved the core of Alpinestars Tech-Air technology. At no point, either past or present, has any action or patent infringement involved the electronic management, algorithm, or deployment mechanism, or any other part employed within Alpinestars entirely unique and advanced Tech-Air technology.

The judgment is limited to Germany only, and has no bearing on any other territories within Europe or the wider world market where Tech-Air is available through Alpinestars’ Dealer network.

Originally Dainese alleged infringements based on three patents in Germany. One complaint was withdrawn by Dainese on 22nd December 2016, relating to patent EP 2 373 188, after the patent was revoked by the European Patent Office. The remaining two patents have been contested in Germany. The second, EP 2 373 190, concerning only some specific features of the air bladder used in the Tech-Air vest , was annulled by the German Federal Patent Court on 15 May 2018. And the third, EP 2 412 257 B1, concerning the general installation of an inflatable air bladder construction within a ‘pocket’ of a garment, featuring elastic panels, is the point on which the patent infringement claim was upheld.
As soon as the Court serves the written judgment, Alpinestars will study the details prior to taking any decision on its next steps. Alpinestars has pointed out that it has an appeal pending on the validity of this patent (EP 2 412 257 B1) with the German Federal Court of Justice.

As consistently stated throughout this legal process, Alpinestars fully respects and honours third parties’ intellectual property rights and expects the same with respect to its own IP rights.