U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Confirms Novelty & Validity of Fundamental Blast Motion Patents Asserted Against Zepp Labs, Inc.

(Carlsbad, Calif., – August 31, 2016) – On August 29, 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a series of decisions confirming the novelty and validity of all five fundamental Blast Motion patents that were asserted against Zepp Labs, Inc. (Zepp) in litigation. This ruling dealt a serious blow to Zepp’s attempts to rebut Blast Motion’s strong showing of patent infringement in the pending patent litigation between Blast Motion and Zepp in the Southern District of California.

In March 2015, Blast Motion sued Zepp for patent infringement. The patent complaint asserted that Zepp products including Zepp Baseball, Zepp Golf and Zepp Tennis infringed the claims of United States Patent Nos. 8,903,521; 9,039,527; 8,941,723; 8,905,855 and 8,944,928. The complaint seeks lost profit and reasonable royalty damages. The complaint further seeks injunctive relief to prevent the sale of infringing Zepp products.

In February 2016, Zepp filed five Inter Partes Review (IPR) Petitions at the USPTO. The Zepp IPR petitions sought to delay the patent suit between Blast Motion and Zepp on the grounds that the USPTO could invalidate each of the asserted patents. Specifically, the petitions requested that the USPTO determine the validity of the five asserted patents in light of prior art identified by Zepp.

On August 29, 2016, the USPTO issued its institution decisions on the five IPR petitions. These decisions confirmed the strength of Blast Motion’s patents and rejected Zepp’s attempts to invalidate the five asserted patents. The USPTO completely rejected Zepp’s attempts to invalidate claims of United States Patent Nos. 8,903,521 and 9,039,527. These patents cover fundamental technology relating to event detection via motion sensors and broadcasting motion analysis data and video. The USPTO further confirmed that United States Patent Nos. 8,941,723; 8,905,855 and 8,944,928 each had one or more claims that were valid over the prior art identified by Zepp.

Each asserted patent has one or more asserted claims that will not be reviewed further by the USPTO. Blast Motion will move forward with its patent suit against Zepp and will take additional steps to protect and strengthen its investment in research and development.

About Blast Motion
Based in Carlsbad, California, Blast Motion is defining the future of wearable motion capture technology, backed by 33 issued patents and many more in progress. By combining the industry’s most complete 360-degree athletic improvement solution through software services, advanced sensor-based motion capture, and swing analysis, Blast Motion has created a contextually rich user experience that enhances the way people capture, analyze, and share their performance. For additional information about Blast Motion, please visit: blastmotion.com

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