Airbags – Electronic motorcycle airbag: Alpinestars and Dainese in court –

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Electronic motorcycle airbag: Alpinestars and Dainese in court

Airbags - Motorcycle electronic airbag: Alpinestars and Dainese in court -

Italian motorcycle equipment manufacturers Alpinestars and Dainese engage in a legal standoff over their electronic airbag, Tech-Air and D-Air respectively, accusing each other of copying some of their technologies.

Italian motorcycle equipment manufacturers Alpinestars and Dainese engage in a legal standoff over their electronic airbag, the and the, respectively, accusing each other of copying some of their technologies.

Alpinestars and Dainese empty their (air) bag !

In addition to the French brand Bering and its vest, two Italian equipment manufacturers offer an autonomous airbag (without cable between the motorcycle and the rider) which is triggered electronically: Alpinestars with Tech-Air and Dainese with D-Air (read box below).

Electronic airbag: who does what ?

Alpinestars and Dainese have worked at length on the technology and materials required to develop an electronic airbag: since 2011 for Alpinestars and since 1995 for the very first Dainese prototype, a kind of sausage theoretically supposed to come out of a helmet (read our).

After years of trial and error, the Tech-Air Alpinestars and the D-Air Dainese were born. It is in both cases a vest to slip under a jacket or a track suit, composed of a cushion which, once inflated, covers certain parts of the upper body (shoulders, thorax and neck).

The inflation of this cushion takes place automatically between 50 and 80 m / s after a shock or a fall has been detected by the electronic control unit of the device. At the end of 2014, Alpinestars took a significant advantage over the competition since its latest generation of Tech-Air operates completely autonomously, where the deployment of its rivals – including D-Air – involves sensors installed on the motorcycle ( read our).

To achieve this degree of sophistication, Alpinestars has used motorcycle racing as a laboratory, in order to experiment with ever more responsive algorithms, constantly faster inflation mechanisms and cushions with increased protection capacities. Or the same approach followed by Dainese, whose first D-Air were among others released by Valentino Rossi himself in MotoGP.

Since the technical maturity of their product, the two Italian manufacturers have been fighting each other to impose themselves on this promising market for the protection of the motorcyclist, but whose scope is limited by its very high eccore cost: more than 1000 euros the airbag only for the road version, then to be installed in a brand jacket…

Fruits long – and expensive! – years of research and several patent filings (26 according to Dainese), these "intelligent" airbags are the pride of their designers … who do not hesitate to defend their technical specificities in court, as Alpinestars currently do and Dainese.

According to our American colleagues from, it was Alpinestars who struck the first blow by accusing Dainese of using an electronic system initially developed for its Tech-Air.

Alpinestars would then have sent a letter to his rival to warn him of the legal consequences of this situation … but Dainese assures that he never received this letter. !

As is often the case in this type of case involving patent and intellectual property violations (see in particular the interminable struggle between Apple and Samsung), Dainese also accuses Alpinestars of having copied certain parts of its technology, in this case to About the cushion. A response from the shepherd to the shepherdess brought to German and Italian courts…

Since then, this clash between the two giants of motorcycle equipment has continued to grow, as evidenced by the press releases successively published by Alpinestars and Dainese with the aim of making theirs? – light on the nature and consequences of this dispute.

First to speak out publicly, Alpinestars naturally refutes Dainese’s allegations and specifies that "Tech Air Street uses technologies developed by Alpinestars and that the cushion used in the Tech Air system calls for technologies common in the field of air conditioning. airbag, used in particular in the automotive industry ".

Alpinestars therefore considers that its airbag (and in particular its cushion) "does not infringe third parties in terms of intellectual property rights". Case closed ? Not really…

It’s not me, it’s him !

In its press release, the star brand then accuses its rival of having taken measures – which it considers illegal – to remove the Alpinestars airbag from the shelves of certain stores. According to Alpinestars, Dainese would in fact have asked several of its dealers (in particular in Germany) to stop selling Alpinestars airbags on the grounds that they violated the intellectual property of the Dainese group….

"In Germany, Dainese has made a direct request to certain retailers to stop offering the Alpinestars Tech-Air Street system for sale, even though no legal action has been taken against Alpinestars. Alpinestars n ‘has withdrawn none of its products from the German market ".

"All claims made by Dainese against Alpinestars and / or its retailers are disputed and Alpinestars takes appropriate legal steps to ensure that such unfounded allegations cannot prevent the distribution and sale of the Tech-Air Street system," says Alpinestars.

Unsurprisingly, Dainese quickly reacted to Alpinestars’ public accusations by delivering his own side of the story in a particularly sour statement. Coming back to the statement concerning his approach to stop the marketing of Tech Air in Germany without going through justice, Dainese assures exactly the opposite. !

"In October 2015, the Munich Court (Germany, Editor’s note) issued two independent preliminary injunctions against a German Alpinestars dealer, confirming that the Alpinestars Tech-Air system infringes two Dainese patents in Europe", assures the preferred equipment supplier of Valentino Rossi…

"Dainese also recently filed additional proceedings against Alpinestars in German court for compensatory damages for infringement of Dainese’s patents.".

The bat mark then specifies having filed with the courts an "urgent preliminary injunction" effectively aimed at stopping the marketing of Tech-Air in Italy and Germany. With no doubt the objective of extending this ban to the rest of the European and global market in the short term..

What consequences for the protection of bikers ?

At present, difficult to see clearly in this "technical-legal" imbroglio, especially as the traditional truce of the confectioners between Christmas and New Year’s Day does not facilitate the process of clarification. And to cut short further questions, Dainese was very clear in explaining that the group "will not make any further comment on these lawsuits, preferring to discuss them in the appropriate places".

In other words, the Italian manufacturer will now only speak in court, through its lawyers. This caution is completely understandable, because the stakes go beyond the "simple" question of patent infringement: in addition to the damages to be paid if the courts decide against them, Dainese and Alpinestars also have a lot to lose commercially..

If only in terms of partnership, since to develop a line of clothing equipped with the Tech-Air airbag. Dainese has for its part forged partnerships with Ducati and Peugeot so that some of their models are pre-equipped to operate with D-Air: this is currently the case for the r and the . 

Dainese also team … to whom it would be unfortunate to ask for the return of their equipment if a court decision brought to light any patent infringement !

Lastly, Dainese has been forming alliances since last spring with competing manufacturers who do not have electronic airbags. Thanks to these agreements, the latter can license D-Air in their own equipment..

For the moment limited to track suits, this association is based on the D-Armor, a textile sub-suit equipped with the Dainese airbag which is inserted under suitable leather. Currently, two manufacturers have already subscribed to the approach initiated by Dainese: the Italian Vircos and the French Furygan (photo above).

It is thanks to this agreement that we can see riders wearing a Furygan suit equipped with D-Air (recognizable by the indicator located in front of the left shoulder), such as Moto2 world champion Johann Zarco, his British rival Sam Lowes or Mike Di Meglio in MotoGP. Hence the importance, including in terms of image, to come out of all these accusations whitewashed … To be continued naturally on MNC: stay connected !

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