The onewheel design using a hub motor on a large wheel is quite distinctive and novel.<p>The patent publication date also has nothing to do with when Changzhou may have begun development -- OneWheel launched at CES 2014, 2 years ago getting A LOT of media coverage as well as a million dollar crowdfund campaign.  That makes it rather attractive to knock off.  The start date on Changzhou&#x27;s development was anytime after January 2014.<p>You copy the product in the market, not necessarily the patent itself.  It is at your peril to copy so directly and ignore &quot;Patent Pending&quot;.<p>It would not take more than 3-6 months for a company like this to have a knock off to show.<p>I have not looked at Kamen&#x27;s patents, but it would be hard to imagine the OneWheel displacing a Segway&#x27;s use case.  Of course if Kamen&#x27;s patents well cover the core &quot;self-balancing&quot; technology he could push to get royalties.  It would be a waste of money for Kamen to completely shutdown a skateboard though.<p>The OneWheel launched before the hoverboards started showing up. The timeline may even place hoverboards as less blatant derivatives of OneWheel.