On April 22, 2024 (Beijing time), comments about possible infringement related to the Drive Helix wheelset’s hub’s freehub mechanism, known as the Helical Dual Ratchet System, appeared on the Internet. At 5:12pm the same day (Beijing time), Elitewheels received an email from Qvist, requesting a discussion regarding the patented Helical Dual Ratchet System. Qvist attached their own patent information to the email. This was the first time Elitewheels was contacted by Qvist.
Our team launched an investigation after receiving the email and information within. We responded to the email from Qvist on the morning of April 23, 2024 (Beijing time), providing information about the patented Helical Dual Ratchet System. On the same day, during the afternoon, a meeting between Elitewheels and Qvist was scheduled for the following day. During the meeting on the 24th, both parties expressed their questions and requests.
Elitewheels has a license to use the Helical Dual Ratchet System( Patented in China). At the moment, the Elitewheels’ legal team is comparing and evaluating the patents that both Elitewheels and Qvist’s products are making use of. The European lawyer working with Elitewheels is conducting an evaluation based on EU law.
Elitewheels chooses to fully respect the rights and interests of Qvist. Based on the currently available information, we will stop sales and promotion of the Drive Helix wheels in Germany from now on. In order to safeguard the rights and interests of German users, we will do the best of our ability continue to investigate the issue and find solutions, including the possibility of Elitewheels actively seeking cooperation with Qvist, but this does not rule out the possibility of taking legal action.
Statement: As of now, the Elitewheels marketing and sales team have not received any requests for interviews from the media. If you have any leads of media inquiries, please contact us at [email protected]
