Best Kiteboarding Acquires Legaignoux Brothers Patent

In 2002, two brothers turned a good idea (the inflatable kite) into a great idea with the modern depowerable ‘bow kite’. Now, after more than 10 years battling kite companies to license their design, they’ve handed the fight to a kiteboarding company.

Best kiteboarding have now taken on responsibility for the patents, acquiring them from the Legaignoux brothers in June 2015. The 4 patents entitled “Wing having a Negative Dihedron for Towing Load” (or variations thereof) are registered in the US, Canada and Europe and valid to 2025. They cover all kiteboarding kites with a concave trailing edge (see the image adjacent to see more about it), and wingtips that curve down towards the rider. As you can imagine, that means most kiteboarding kites on the market today, some of which pay a license fee to the brothers, others do not.

Joined in their licensing agreements to the patents are new owners Best, along with other industry leaders Cabrinha, Slingshot, Starkites, Takoon, Airush and most recently, North kiteboarding. Conspicuous in their absence is Naish, Core and several other companies, who get around the patent by designing their kites with a convex leading edge.

An enormously popular design at the time was the Best Waroo, which was licensed from the beginning and often credited as forming the base from many modern hybrid kites were based on. Best say that “The instant experience-able benefits of the new design lead to an unforeseen growth of people entering the sport.”

With the power of Best behind the patents now, expect to see more companies getting on board to license their designs, and watch out for the new kites from North which will feature much more concave trailing edges!