Moov Hoverboards Never Make it Off the Ground

Mark Cuban, billionaire businessman and one of the “sharks” on the reality television series Shark Tank, wanted to get into the hoverboard business but backed the wrong horse. Moov, the high-end hoverboard that came to Kickstarter with the support of the aforementioned owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will not come to fruition following the disbanding of maker Radical Transport.

In an email to The Verge, Mark Cuban cited “patent issues” as the thing that killed the Moov, saying that “everyone wanted to sue everyone,” which led to Cuban deciding it wasn’t worth the trouble. Cuban didn’t name names, but one possibility is Shane Chen, founder of the company Inventist and the man who invented and holds the patent for the most popular type of hoverboard. One aspect that makes Chen’s patent so powerful is that it covers the split in the middle of the hoverboard that allows the rider to twist the sides to steer and change speed.

Radical Transport tried to avoid the issue by foregoing the split and instead used sensors to measure the flex in the board that would allow the rider to control the board by shifting their weight. Radical Transport launched their Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2017, meeting their goal and then some, despite the board’s hefty $1,000+ price tag. The company then hooked up with a third-party company that would take care of the production and shipment.

Then, a week after that deal went through, a patent for a very similar idea was granted to an inventor named Daniel Wood. While this may come off like the behavior of a patent troll – someone who actively seeks out patents for the sole purpose of suing parties who may be in violation – Wood claims that he was working on his product for years prior. Radical Transport’s former vice president of engineering EJ Williams pointed out that because hoverboards became very popular very quickly, patents were filed left and right, and since there’s no way to find a patent that’s pending, everyone was in the dark as to what everyone else was working on. This led to a lot of very similar projects being developed at the same time.

While it may be too much of a headache for Cuban, Radical Transport claimed in November to be pursuing an even better hoverboard, though clearly the three-man team decided to part ways.