Splitboard.com Forums

I did a patent and patent application search for snowboard inventions assigned to Atomic and I found nothing splitboard related. Is this thing really gonna be for sale in the US? I can't imagine Voile would be that stoked on it because it seems like a patent infringement. Still - best to see how it shakes out. It could be a great innovation, I suppose. If it sucks, it prolly won't be around for long. Voile has spent a long time building this market - I would be suprised if Atomic could make much impact with a lousy product in one year. I doubt retailers would take a risk on a whole new system unless it is clearly better or unless Atomic has enough juice to force retailers to carry it as part of their lineup of Atomic products.

My snowboard shop guy told me he had a restricted view page, and not to dissemeneate it. He will know more after a show in February. He will also see if he can get a demo and will let me kick the tires. He indicated they would be targeting a next year release (this fall for the next snow season I think) The one thing he said when I talked patent and voile was that his source said that Atomic is part of the Amersports conglomerate, which is huge, has high powered attorneys and said bring it on with regard to patent infringement. I don't know much about much, but this sounds like a fun to watch soap opera to be played out...but not while I'm on the gear.

I ordered my Mojo, I'll keep my burton custom split...and await the judges decison at the end of the 15th round.

If I get any update from the board shop rep after the gear show in Feb I will post it here.

Wow - that's gnarly. Well might does make right in the court of law so I hope Voile has a warchest. But Burton has paid licensing so that's probably an advantage to Voile if they can ever get around to fighting it. I had no idea the splitboard market was so lucrative.

that's not gnarly, that's some ski/snowboard tech talkin' shit, bfd





edited cause i can't spell fer shit...and it just looks cool when you edit a sarcastic comment

Yeah - excellent point, but if they are planning on selling splitboards in the US they either have licensed the technology from Voile or they are planning to challenge/infringe. Or maybe their technology is so novel it doesn't require a license, but that doesn't seem like the case since Atomic haven't file a patent application.

from what i understand about US patent law, you need to have sold somehting in the US to patent it in the US.
gary

I think it's too early to make assumptions about whether they are infringing or not. From what little info is available, it's clear they are planning something very different from what's been put out there in the past. Maybe it'll be great, and completely new, maybe not. We'll see soon enough (hopefully at the OR show next week! )

Shep

I think it's the opposite. You have one year from the date of first sales to patent it or it's public domain, but you're right they could hold off filing anything for a year. There's a whole goofy world of patents that have been granted but never commercialized.

With so many tech shows coming up in Jan/Feb/Mar I think that Shep is right. It is too soon to tell and we may see some of what could be coming soon. There is little known, mostly conjecture here, and seeing is believing. We could find that those of you who have waited years and years toiling in your shops to tweak things out to your needs find that they have been following along and making some of those ideas incorporate into their R&D. Hell, I'm excited to be new at this and have two boards with two different interfaces so that I can take those options plus all the DIYs and ideas here to find my own stoke.

I'm eager, but I'm not so eager to know I can't control anything more than chatting here until someone sees more than I did and can give us some solid intel reports of what Atomic has up their sleeves.

Three options are better than two (and one being burton are dinosaurs that are out of production and geeks like me are collecting those artifacts).

Drops Tuesday at OR. Totally different than Voile!!!!!

I saw the Atomic split last week in Oregon. The design looks innovative and unless Voile has a patent on anything split I don't see how it could infringe on Voile's. Besides what has already been said here is a couple other tidbits. No tip or tail clips, no ying yang/chinese hooks. The hooks are replaced by a kind clamping system, simple but hard to explain. The bindings/interface are attached similar to a standard four hole pattern. Decide where you want your stance then insert four studs into the right holes. If you want to change your stance later just move the studs. Conversion between tour and ride mode is all done by the crampons. The crampon tool is everything on this split. It all seamed to work good on the showroom floor but so did my original Burton split. I will give it a test on snow in Feb.

I only looked at this for a few minutes so I could be wrong on about everything

Thanks for sharing your info nxnwsurf! Labonza told me he was going to lay some rumors to rest and all he did was tell us it drops Tuesday.

Re your comments.

Is the clamping system similar to a ski boot buckle latch?
As for the crampon tool, are you saying that the only way to use the board in split mode is with the crampon engaged?

Thanks again for sharing.

Patent smatent...you only need to change something slightly. I wouldn't waste my companies money fighting lawsuits.
Besides, it doesn't last forever. Voile will need to figure something else out if they want to keep the splitboard as their own.

If no one tries to make something new, we'll be stuck @ this point forever.
I think the current system works great but there is always room for more improvement. There are a lot of smart people out there...probably a bunch @ Voile. It might be time to hit the CAD program up, that's all.