Originally Posted by invisiblehand
From a layperson's perspective, the curved top tube and other Brompton characteristics seem to be closely related to function, so I am surprised that the copyright was enforced.
You can't say that it's the only way to make a folding bike & that's where the argument falls apart. It's a bold face attempt at copying a sucessful design without even an attempt at changing the curved top tube. I doubt that Merc even went through the trouble at looking at possible different geometries in order to avoid any possible legal claims by Brompton.