A Chinese maker of hoverboards has had its booth at CES raided by US marshals following a patent infringement claim.
Changzhou First International Trade, which was showing off its one-wheeled electric skateboards, had all its models confiscated.
Officials also took down all the company’s signs after a rival Silicon Valley-based firm filed a patent infringement claim.
Footage of the raid was posted by Bloomberg news agency.
Related: Hoverboard buying guide
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Changzhou First International Trade’s ‘Trotter’ device is a board with one big wheel in the centre.
Future Motion, the firm which filed the patent infringement claim, says it has a device, the Onewheel skateboard, which looks almost identical to the Trotter.
US Marshals also served the Chinese firm with a court order, and the case will return to court in a week.
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A host of low-quality hoverboards have flooded the market in recent months, some of which have been prone to catching fire.
In December, Trading Standards seized more than 15,000 hoverboards, deemed to be ‘dangerous’, at UK ports.
Check out our CES 2016 hub for the latest news coming out of Las Vegas.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
