Tonal, the connected fitness at-home gym company, is suing its Chinese rival, Speediance. The lawsuit covers a lot of ground, including alleged patent infringement, a request for monetary compensation, and the blocking of further production of Speediance’s Gym Monster. Head below the fold for more details on the lawsuit.
Background
With so many companies and brands in the connected fitness space – Tonal, Peloton, Echelon, Hydrow, Speediance, and more – it was bound to get somewhat sticky when it came to specific design patents. Tonal’s lawsuit against its Chinese rival, Speediance, exemplifies exactly what that means.
It was 2015 when Tonal splashed onto the connected fitness market, compared to Speediance, which was established in December 2020. Per their website, Speediance is “a promising high-tech startup that aims to manufacture a series of intelligent fitness products.” Anyone who knows anything about Tonal can easily draw similarities to Tonal just based on that information alone, as Tonal uses AI to create dynamic workouts in what they call their Intelligent Home Gym System.
Speediance has its own at-home gym system, the Gym Monster – the production of which Tonal is trying to stop.
Tonal vs. Speediance
In the lawsuit, Tonal is challenging not only Speediance’s marketing but also its product. Tonal has laid out six patent infringements relating to function and construction, is seeking to block further production of Speediance’s Gym Monster, is requesting monetary compensation for lost sales, and more. Additional information from Tonal’s lawsuit, claiming that Speediance has committed:
- False and misleading advertising
- Falsifying Amazon reviews
- Advertising itself as “The Tonal killer”
Whether or not Tonal will be successful in its attempt to stop the production of Speediance’s Gym Monster has yet to be determined, but it’s hardly the first lawsuit between rival connected fitness brands. Hydrow sued NordicTrack, and Peloton has sued Echelon. Surely, Tonal’s lawsuit against Speediance won’t be the last of its kind.
Further reading:
- Tonal and Best Buy announce new partnership
- Speediance improves design of adjustable bench
- Speediance Gym Pal: In-depth review
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