Hover board patent way too vague

Question

The patent on the hover board is far too broad and should not be approved. Found two videos on YouTube demonstrating how a super magnet will bounce off of a conductive surface:

• Magnet Brakes Fall on Copper (May 26, 2010)
• Magnet Brakes its own fall (September 4, 2007)

The second one was done over 7 years ago and 1.4 million people have viewed it (as of November 13, 2014). A lot of other projects have been underway for many years to do similar things for various purposes. Granting his patent for a hover board skateboard should be a single patent and not extended to all other uses and purposes as it has tried to do.

• Publication Numbers: PCT/US2014/019956, WO 2014/149626 A1, US 2014/0265690 A1, and US 2015/0175031 A1
• Title: Magnetic levitation of a stationary or moving object.
• Priority Date: March 15, 2013
• Inventor: D. Gregory Henderson
• Assignee: Arx Pax, LLC

Here is the actual hover board patent application (based on the above applications):

• Publication Numbers: US 2015/0175031 A1
• Title: Hoverboard.
• Priority Date: March 15, 2013
• Inventor: D. Gregory Henderson, Shauna Moran, Mitchell Dougherty, Victor Espinoza, Robert William Melvin, James Janicki, David P. Olynick
• Assignee: Arx Pax, LLC

Independent claims (Claims 1 and 18 of 30 claims):

1. A hoverboard comprising:

   • two or more hover engines, each hover engine having, an electric motor including a winding, a first set of permanent magnets and a first structure which holds the first permanent magnets wherein an electric current is applied to the winding to cause one of the winding or the first set of permanent magnets to rotate;
   • an electronic speed controller which controls a rotation rate of the electric motor;
   • a starm, configured to receive a rotational torque from the electric motor which rotates the starm, including a second set of permanent magnets and a second structure which holds the second set of permanent magnets wherein the second set of permanent magnets are rotated to induce eddy currents in a substrate such that the induced eddy currents and the second set of permanent magnets interact to generate forces which cause the hoverboard and a person riding on the hoverboard to hover and translate from location to location along the substrate;
   • and a shroud enclosing the electric motor and at least a top portion of the starm;
   • a rider platform on which the person rides including a front end and a back end wherein a first hover engine is mounted beneath the rider platform proximate to the front end and a second hover engine is mounted beneath the rider platform proximate to the back end of the rider platform;
   • and an electric power source that outputs the electric current to the two or more hover engines is mounted beneath the rider platform between the first hover engine and the second hover engine.

The second independent claim is similar to the first:

Claim 18. A hoverboard comprising:

• two or more hover engines, each hover engine having, an electric motor including a winding, a first set of permanent magnets and a first structure which holds the first permanent wherein an electric current is applied to the winding to cause one of the winding or the first set of permanent magnets to rotate;
• an electronic speed controller which controls a rotation rate of the electric motor;
• a starm, configured to receive a rotational torque from the electric motor which rotates the STARM, including a second set of permanent magnets and a second structure which holds the second set of permanent magnets wherein the second set of permanent magnets are rotated to induce eddy currents in a substrate such that the induced eddy currents and the second set of permanent magnets interact to generate forces which cause the hoverboard and a person standing on the hoverboard to hover and translate from location to location along the substrate; and
• a shroud enclosing the electric motor and at least a top portion of the starm;
• an electric power source that outputs the electric current to the two or more hover engines;
• a rider platform on which the person stands, the two or more hover engines structurally linked to the rider platform;
• a mechanical hinge coupled to a first hover engine which allows the starm, the electric motor and the shroud of the first hover engine to tilt relative to the rider platform wherein a magnitude of a translational force, output from the first hover engine, changes in response to tilting the starm, the electric motor and the shroud and wherein the translation force is used to control an orientation of the hoverboard relative to the substrate;
• and a tilt mechanism coupled to the first hover engine configured to receive an external force and/or generate an internal force which tilts the first hover engine in response to an input force generated by the person.

As I read through the earlier patent application he is trying to preclude many products already developed. Several years ago I saw other YouTube videos of an almost exact idea in South Korea. While his specific hover board product is unique in design, I think it would be dangerous for him to get a patent that covers every conceivable variation of use for the concept when so many prior works already preexist his idea.

Answer 1

It is too late now to submit prior art for this application. The grant issued as US 9,126,487 B2 on September 8, 2015.

Claims 1-4, 6-17 have been cancelled, claims 18, 22, 29 and 31 have been amended as follows:

18. (Currently Amended) A hoverboard comprising:

    • two or more hover engines, each hover engine having,
    • an electric motor including a winding, a first set of permanent magnets and a first structure which holds the first set of permanent magnets wherein an electric current is applied to the winding to cause one of the winding or the first set of permanent magnets to rotate;
    • an electronic speed controller which controls a rotation rate of the electric motor;
    • a rotatable component, configured to receive a rotational torque from the electric motor which rotates the rotatable component including a second set of permanent magnets and a second structure which holds the second set of permanent magnets wherein the second set of permanent magnets are rotated to induce eddy currents in a substrate such that the induced eddy currents and the second set of permanent magnets interact to generate forces which cause the hoverboard and a person standing on the hoverboard to hover and translate from location to location along the substrate;
    • and a shroud enclosing the electric motor and at least a top portion of the rotatable component;
    • an electric power source that outputs the electric current to the two or more hover engines;
    • a rider platform on which the person stands, the two or more hover engines structurally linked to the rider platform;
    • a mechanical hinge coupled to a first hover engine of the two or more hover engines which allows the rotatable component, the electric motor and the shroud of the first hover engine to tilt relative to the rider platform wherein a magnitude of a translational force, output from the first hover engine, changes in response to tilting the rotatable component, the electric motor and the shroud and wherein the translation force is used to control an orientation of the hoverboard relative to the substrate;
    • an actuator, including an actuator controller, which outputs a force that changes a tilt position of the first hover engine from a first tilt position to a second tilt position in response to an input force generated by the person;
    • one or more sensors configured to measure a direction and/or a magnitude of the input force generated by the person; and
    • a logic device configured to receive sensor data from the one or more sensors, communicate with the actuator controller and based upon the sensor data, command the actuator controller to output the force to tilt the first hover engine.

19. (Currently Amended) The hoverboard of claim 18, wherein the one or more sensors are integrated into the rider platform and wherein the person generates the input force via a movement of their body.

20. (Currently Amended) The hoverboard of claim 31, wherein the first portion is formed from a flexible material which bends in response to the input force from the foot of the person.

21. (New) A hoverboard comprising:

    • two or more hover engines, each hover engine having, an electric motor including a winding, a first set of permanent magnets and a first structure which holds the first set of permanent magnets wherein an electric current is applied to the winding to cause one of the winding or the first set of permanent magnets to rotate;
    • an electronic speed controller which controls a rotation rate of the electric motor; a rotatable component, configured to receive a rotational torque from the electric motor which rotates the rotatable component including a second set of permanent magnets and a second structure which holds the second set of permanent magnets wherein the second set of permanent magnets are rotated to induce eddy currents in a substrate such that the induced eddy currents and the second set of permanent magnets interact to generate forces which cause the hoverboard and a person standing on the hoverboard to hover and translate from location to location along the substrate; and
    • a shroud enclosing the electric motor and at least a top portion of the rotatable component;
    • an electric power source that outputs the electric current to the two or more hover engines;
    • a rider platform on which the person stands, the two or more hover engines structurally linked to the rider platform;
    • a mechanical hinge coupled to a first hover engine of the two or more hover engines which allows the rotatable component, the electric motor and the shroud of the first hover engine to tilt relative to the rider platform wherein a magnitude of a translational force, output from the first hover engine, changes in response to tilting the rotatable component, the electric motor and the shroud and wherein the translation force is used to control an orientation of the hoverboard relative to the substrate;
    • a first portion of the rider platform that is moveable relative to a remaining portion of the rider platform; and a mechanical linkage coupled on a first end to the shroud of the first hover engine and coupled on a second end to the first portion wherein the first portion moves in response to receiving an input force from a foot of the person which causes the first hover engine to tilt.

Anyone who is interested in the scope of this patent should have a read through the claim language. Although these claims throw around the words "hoverboard" and "hover engine", it is clear on reading this that there is no claim about actually making anything hover.

Answer 2

At this point this is only a pending PCT filing. You could file one for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it would get published.

But it sounds like you are aware of some relevant prior art, and feel strongly about not allowing this case to move forward. If you are willing to spend the time, you can submit Third Party Observations to the World Patent Organization. The process is described here: http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/pct/en/epct/pdf/epct_observations.pdf

The US and EPO also accept such third party observations, and have their own procedures.

Also, if the patent does issue, you can challenge it through specialized procedures in many countries.