Airbag technology in riding gears is the future of safety in motorcycle industry. The Airbags allows the level of impact protection which was previously unheard of in the market.

Alpinestars and Dainese have headed to court over their two respective airbag brands: Tech Air and D-Air used in their riding gears. Alpinestars initiated the legal battle by sending a cease and desist letter to Dainere, alleging the use of infringing technology in the Dainese D-Air products.  Dainese in turn evaluated its D-Air patents and brought suit against Alpinestars in Germany and Italy, because of how its Tech Air suit operates using an algorithm. Dainese claims to have the controlling patent on the use of a computer-deployed airbag, which registers when an airbag deployment should occur.

In the legal battle Alpinestars has had to remove its Tech Air products from the German market. The legal proceedings in Italy are expected to take much longer.

The outcome of the lawsuit in Italy will likely affect how things play out in the world market, and the potential is that a sole manufacturer of self-contained airbag apparel could emerge in the motorcycle industry.

If that is the case, it would be a boon to the victor, who would then be in control of the most revolutionary safety equipment to hit the motorcycle industry in the past few decades.

However, that boon would come at the detriment to motorcycle enthusiasts, as monopolies rarely bode well for the consumer.

In addition to the everyday rider, these events could cause ripples in the racing ranks as well, as the inability to include airbag technology with their suits, could materially affect an apparel company’s ability to retain high-level riders who are concerned with safety.