Originally Posted by
bargainguy
Yes.
From memory, Dahon was looking to produce the bike when the patent expired but the employees/lawyers in charge of the project instead set up their own company. In short, they were sued under European copyright laws. My rough understanding is that Brompton's argument was that even though the patent expired there was no reason for Neobike to copy the appearance since it was possible to use the patent while differentiating the bike. I believe Brompton actually demonstrated this to a court with a prototype ... or perhaps just a drawing.