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Unfortunately for SRAM, the stay of execution is for the cassettes only; an earlier injunction against X-7 shifters remains in place and these products will not be seen at IFMA Koln, which starts Thursday, or available in Germany.
Patent disputes such as these can take up to two years to decide via the German courts.
SRAM will be able to appeal against the Powerglide injunction at a hearing on October 1st.
As can be seen from the links below, Shimano asserts that SRAM’s Power Glide II cassette steps on Hyper Glide toes (European patent 0313345) and that internal workings used in SRAM’s X-7 trigger shifters violate Shimano’s European patent EP0698548B1.
SRAM Europe is currently working on an official press release but SRAM’s Martin Van Beek told BikeBiz.com that SRAM is extremely happy with the stay of execution:
"SRAM is again able to start shipping cassettes into Germany. It’s a major issue for us and perfect news for IFMA."
