Dahon Files Lawsuit Against Tern
 

Link to the article at EcoVelo: Dahon Files Lawsuit Against Tern

“It is one thing to make unsubstantiated claims on the Internet and through alternate channels, but it is another to provide documented evidence and make statements in a court of law under oath," said Dr. David Hon, CEO of Dahon.

It will be interesting to see how it unfolds in the courts.

(site was down, used this one http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/...tail/5714.html )

Yup. This will be very interesting. Keep us posted.

keeping it a family affair, ha. even in court....sounds interesting. i wonder who initiated the lawsuit - dr. hon or dahon.

Reading some more on this it's looking to me as though Tern is aiming to supplant Dahon in non-asian markets, rather than it being a happy offshoot. Tern is taking the majority of the Dahon company without which Dahon doesn't exist in it's currrent form. So perhaps for current european/american Dahon owners there will be no spare parts available in future.

Its a mess for sure. It does look like Dahon China started to lawyer up after comments on both sides got more and more aggressive.

There will be no winners.
If you read all press releases ( And obviously I do ) than Dahon China has promised to ramp up the parts supply drasticaslly, with special parts centers in various countries and and and ....therefore at least on paper the situation is quite the opposite.
Dahons USA Dealer advisory board ( which I heard does exist) are surely aware and have taken actions in that direction on day one.... or... at least that would have been my first push....
again on paper everything will be much better.....

thor

This sounds incredible. I thought Josh Hon was part of the family? How could he do this to the family? WOW!

this is just so sad. when it comes to money - family doesn't exist. trying to outsmart the same person who spoon feed you...

must be a family feud.

There are a lot of possibilities, but it's all speculation at this point, so I'll just stick with something like: "family disagreement from inadequate love" or something like that.

Estranged wife and son versus father/husband

I noticed a couple of weeks back that Josh seems to have locked the Dahon user forums and put what's essentiall a Tern publicity pitch right on Dahon's page here

Surprised it's still up this evening....

:popcorn

That's one of the claims in the law suit, that Josh improperly took control over the dahon.com domain.

Thanksgiving dinner will not be pretty this year.

Perhaps you have more/better information, but Dahon says they have 1200 employees including ~70 engineers, and Tern said their staff is made up of 60-70 former Dahon employees. Dahon has been moving ~800,000 bikes a year and Tern said they hoped for ~60,000 their first year, so it doesn't sound like Tern took the majority of the manufacturing capability.

fify: wrong cultural attribution...

No, I don't think so. Although they are Chinese in race, they are americans in culture.

We should definitely get in touch with both parties to find out which is a more familailly significant holiday: USA Thanksgiving, or ROC New Years!

Father's Day is out of question.

As I said before, there are no amicable divorces. Even when I was a poor college student, I remember a divorcing young childless couple there fighting over a cheap stereo. Marriage-and the products (bikes and even adult children are included here) resulting from that union-are a legal binding contract and even an entity by most laws and social custom. So a real double mess is brewing here-the family breaking up as well as their corporate interests. Unless some miracle intervenes, the estranged husband, wife and son will be the poorer for it. The family itself will suffer along with all their products, both Dahon and Tern. The folding bike world will also be poorer for it.

How could one separate from the results of their hard work when such a huge burden (legal & familial) is on all of their shoulders?

once there's a lawsuit - the family will never be the same again. somehow greed and money is the motivating factor here. just really sad.

Until otherwise credibly informed, I'm accepting Josh's claim that this was about quality control issues from the Chinese factory. It's two businesses parting ways. The family stuff is nobody's business.

hey its not so bad as it looks...eventually there will be two parties that will be laughing all the way to the bank

the lawyers !

They are americans in citizenship. And the son is american in culture. But isn't David Hon a first-generation immigrant?

[Like any of this matters in the least. Just joining the pendants].

You'll end up with one long pendant.

Fyi, it's officially the lunar new year and has been around a lot longer the the ROC. Whereas Thanksgiving is a holiday that wouldn't exist without the United States of America.