Peloton Files Meritless Trademark Cancellation Action Against Mad Dogg Athletics’ Incontestable Spinning® and Spin® Trademark Registrations

VENICE, Calif.--()--Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc., the company best known for creating the indoor cycling category and the Spin® and Spinning® branded line of bikes, programs and digital content, today issued the following statement in response to media and other inquiries related to the trademark cancellation petition filed last week by Peloton Interactive, Inc.

Mad Dogg Athletics is confident that Peloton's legal action will fail. It appears to be little more than retaliation for Mad Dogg Athletics’ patent infringement lawsuit filed against Peloton in December 2020 seeking relief for Peloton’s misuse of Mad Dogg Athletics’ patented technology.

Peloton’s petition incorrectly paints a picture of Mad Dogg Athletics trying to assert rights that are not well established or grounded in trademark law. The opposite is true. It is a matter of public record that Mad Dogg Athletics has been continuously using, licensing, and enforcing rights in its SPIN® and SPINNING® marks for over 25 years, marks closely associated with Mad Dogg Athletics and properly protected by incontestable federal trademark registrations.

  • Mad Dogg Athletics conceived of the famous SPIN® and SPINNING® marks in the early 1990s. The company holds numerous Spin® and Spinning® trademark registrations that have become incontestable under federal trademark law. The company has continuously used and defended its marks ever since in connection with indoor cycling bikes and programs that spawned the indoor cycling category. In addition to its comprehensive line of bikes (www.spinning.com), Mad Dogg Athletics has trained hundreds of thousands of Spinning® instructors that lead classes at many of the world's finest studios and gyms.
  • After creating the indoor cycling category and its line of Spinning® indoor cycling bikes and programs, Mad Dogg Athletics again revolutionized the indoor cycling category in 2010 with the introduction of the eSpinner® bike, which featured the world's first touch-screen display designed to bring instructor-led coaching and interactive training to gyms as well as riders' homes.
  • Weeks before Peloton filed its trademark invalidity petition, Mad Dogg Athletics filed a federal lawsuit against Peloton for patent infringement.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that Peloton's Bike and Bike+ infringe patents held by Mad Dogg Athletics (U.S. Patent Nos. 9,694,240 and 10,137,328) covering core features of an indoor cycling bike designed to simulate an instructor-led class in the rider's home.

Mad Dogg Athletics has continuously invested in and defended the Spinning® family of trademarks worldwide as a means of distinguishing its bikes, programs, and accessories from those of its competitors, including Peloton. The Spinning® brands provide consumers with a means to distinguish Mad Dogg Athletics products from knockoffs and other products that do not deliver the quality, design, and customer experience that have made the Spinning® brands world-famous.

Mad Dogg Athletics and its worldwide team of instructors have worked to help millions of people of all shapes, sizes, and abilities get into the best shape of their lives, believing that health and wellness is something that should be available to everyone. Mad Dogg Athletics will continue to support the Spinning® community, especially the instructors, studios, and gyms who have suffered tremendously over the past year due to the impact of Covid-19. And for the tens of thousands of riders that have our bikes at home, Mad Dogg Athletics will continue to deliver premium content and rides that truly bring the Spinning® studio experience home.

About Spinning® and Mad Dogg Athletics

Born from the road, Mad Dogg Athletics—known throughout the world as Spinning®—created the indoor cycling industry over 25 years ago as a quest to find a new way to train indoors with expert coaching designed to help individuals of all ages and abilities get the most out of every ride. As the worldwide leader in indoor cycling bikes and instructor education, Spinning® has trained more than 300,000 instructors and has reached millions of enthusiasts worldwide through a network of thousands of fitness gyms and studios. In addition to its complete line of commercial bikes, Mad Dogg Athletics manufactures a comprehensive line of connected home Spinner® bikes, all linked to expert coaching and motivating class content through the company's Spinning® Digital and Spinning Digital+ platforms. The Spinning® Digital and Digital+ apps feature top instructors and every aspect of a great studio ride into a variety of classes that are easy to access on any phone, tablet or smart TV. For more information about Spinning®, visit www.spinning.com.

Contacts

Tracy Williams
tracy@olmsteadwilliams.com
310.824.9000

Contacts

Tracy Williams
tracy@olmsteadwilliams.com
310.824.9000