By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK -Peloton Interactive Inc and NordicTrack maker iFit said they have settled all pending litigation between them, where the fitness equipment makers accused each other of infringing their respective patents.
In a joint statement on Monday, the companies said Peloton agreed to license some iFit patents concerning remote control technology, while iFit will remove some on-demand leaderboard technology from its products.
Leaderboards compare how riders taking classes are performing relative to other riders, including in real time.
The settlement came six days after New York-based Peloton posted a record $757.1 million quarterly loss as it wrestled with waning demand for its bikes and treadmills, with more people resuming pre-pandemic activities.
Peloton had sued Logan, Utah-based iFit, once known as Icon Health & Fitness, in the Delaware federal court in 2020 and 2021 for infringement related to its leaderboard technology.
Meanwhile, iFit filed complaints in 2021 and 2022 against Peloton with the Delaware court and the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that Peloton’s Bike+ infringed a patent allowing users to alternate between biking and weightlifting.
The settlement also followed a Delaware judge’s May 13 dismissal of a Peloton lawsuit accusing iFit of trade secret theft.
That case arose after a freelance prop man working on a commercial shoot emailed copies of scripts for Peloton TV commercials and a related digital ad campaign to his childhood friend, an iFit mechanic, in October 2020.
Shares of Peloton were down 33 cents, or 2.1% at $15.54 in morning trading. Their record high is $171.09, set in January 2021.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
