Hyperice Sues More Brands, Retailers Over Massage Gun Patent
The wellness brand already sued rival Therabody and is now filing litigation against many other companies over its massage gun tech
Hyperice has filed 16 lawsuits in federal court against Sharper Image, Homedics, Ekrin Athletics and other retailers including CVS, Costco, Walgreens and Kohl’s related to the alleged infringement of Hyperice’s percussion massage technology. The relevant intellectual property, Hyperice’s U.S. Patent No. 11,857,482, claims technology dating to 2013 that’s used in products like the Hypervolt 2 and the Hypervolt Go 2 massage guns.
The new lawsuits, filed on Tuesday, come two weeks after Hyperice sued rival Therabody for allegedly infringing the same patent.
“The actions that we have taken today are one part of a larger legal strategy to protect our intellectual property rights,” said Jon Howell, general counsel at Hyperice. “We intend to take additional actions in the coming days and weeks to ensure that our innovative line of percussion massage guns is protected.”
In the lawsuits, Hyperice claims that several of the companies’ products, including the Sharper Image Powerboost line and Ekrin massage guns, infringe on Hyperice’s intellectual property. In the coming weeks, Hyperice says it intends to file additional lawsuits, up to 100 in total, against other sellers and retailers believed to have infringed on these patents.
Earlier this month, Hyperice alleged that several of Therabody’s products, including the Theragun Elite, Theragun Pro, Theragun Prime and Theragun Sense, infringe on the same patent.
“At Hyperice’s core, we develop innovative products and technologies to enhance recovery, performance, and longevity for consumers worldwide,” said Hyperice CEO Jim Huether. “For any company working to lead and grow a new and emerging market in the technology sector, the inventive process is extremely important. … There are hundreds of millions of dollars of massage guns sold every year in the U.S. alone, and we believe that a vast majority of these massage guns infringe this patent.”
“We will use aggressive legal actions against all infringers to reinstill credibility of the percussion market,” Huether added.
The massage gun market is substantial, valued at $542.6 million and is likely to reach over $1 billion in the coming years, according to one estimate. Intellectual property disputes in the space are common. In late 2019 and early 2020, Therabody filed patent infringement lawsuits against Hyperice and Achedaway. These lawsuits resulted in Achedaway agreeing to a cease and desist, and Hyperice agreeing to stop selling one of its massage devices.