DUARTE, CA (BRAIN)—Dahon North America has settled its nearly 2-year-old lawsuit against rival folding bike brand Tern Bicycles and its owners, Joshua Hon and Florence Hon, the son and wife, respectively, of Dahon founder Dr. David Hon.
In a letter sent to distributors and dealers, Dr. Hon stated: “The uncertainties of litigation that have plagued our brand these past two years have been amicably settled on mutually acceptable, confidential terms. Accordingly, we can now devote our complete focus to developing the excellent product that consumers have come to love in the last 30 years.
“I want to personally thank each and every one of you to have stayed loyal with us during these last two years.”
While the letter did not name Tern or make explicit reference to the lawsuit, an employee at Dahon North America in California confirmed that “the father and son have settled.” No other details were available Tuesday afternoon.
In the suit filed in July 2011, Dahon North America alleged that Joshua and Florence Hon wrongfully seized control over the company’s Taiwan subsidiary, Dahon and Hon Industrial Labs Ltd., and related intellectual property, including the Biologic brand and the dahon.com website, and used those assets and property to unfairly compete with Dahon.
In addition, since Joshua and Florence Hon started competing with Dahon while still officers and employees there, they acted in breach of their fiduciary duties owed to the company and its shareholders, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed one month after the pair launched Tern Bicycles with a team composed largely of former employees from Dahon's Taiwan office.
At the time of the filing, Joshua Hon said the lawsuit had no merit, calling a Dahon press release about the legal action “misleading” and “defamatory.”
