DUARTE, CA (BRAIN)—Dahon North America Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against Joshua Hon and Florence Hon for unlawful competition with their Mobility Holdings, Ltd. and Tern Bicycles.
In the suit filed July 15, Dahon alleges Joshua Hon and Florence Hon wrongfully seized control over Dahon’s Taiwan subsidiary, Dahon and Hon Industrial Labs, Ltd. and related Dahon 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 Hon and Florence Hon started competing with Dahon while officers and employees of Dahon, they have acted in breach of their fiduciary duties owed to Dahon and to Dahon’s shareholders, according to the lawsuit.
Josh and Florence launched Tern Bicycles last month with a team of mostly former employees from Dahon's Taiwan office.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Josh Hon said the lawsuit filed by Dahon is without merit.
"In addition, we believe that the press release announcing the suit is misleading, inaccurate, and defamatory. We are preparing an appropriate legal response," Hon said, adding that any additional comment would come from Tern's attorney.
According to a press release issued by Dahon, a number of false, misleading and self-incriminating comments regarding their departure from Dahon have been made public by Joshua Hon and Florence Hon. In particular, Dahon disputes allegations that any entity other than itself has ownership of intellectual property rights, copyrights, trademarks and patents relating to the Dahon brand and Dahon branded products.
Also, statements by these former officers that they continue to represent Dahon either individually or through their fictitious company “Dahon Global” are simply untrue, the release said.
“It is one thing to make unsubstantiated claims on the Internet and through alternate channels, but it is another to provide documented evidence and make statements in a court of law under oath," said Dr. David Hon, CEO of Dahon.
To read about the events that led up to this lawsuit, scroll down to our Current Magazine Issue on the front page and click on "Dahons at the Center of a Folding Bike Controversy."
