WOODINVILLE, WA (BRAIN)—Litigation between Cane Creek and Full Speed Ahead over a headset patent has been resolved, meaning FSA can get back to making Aheadset licensed original equipment and aftermarket headsets.
"For the last year we didn't make any headsets covered by that patent," said Ric Hjertberg, technology manager at FSA.
FSA and Cane Creek terminated their Aheadset licensing agreement (U.S. Patent No. 5,095,770) early last year.
"We deeply regret the chaos this causes our customers who will need to turn elsewhere for headsets," said FSA general manager Matt Van Enkevort to BRAIN in a June 15, 2007 story. "But we don't plan to be out of the headset business for long."
Van Enkevort said at the time that "with the flood of unlicensed Aheadset-styled headsets on the market, it was painful to continue paying the licensing fee."
Cane Creek's Aheadset patent is due to expire in the fall of 2010. Additional patents, which are refinements of the original patent, like Tange Seiki's Zero Stack patent, will remain active after 2010.
Click on PDF to see Cane Creek's notice to the industry.
—Jason Norman
