Yesterday, I went through some of the more interesting patents out there. One that seemed to deserve its own space, though, is this one.

That’s still a little vague, so let me clarify what it pertains to.

Based on that set of drawings, you might begin to recognize the idea in question as a tapered steerer tube–the same basic design found on almost every bike. I stumbled onto this the other night, and traced it back to a patent that was already approved on May 22nd, 2011. Given that the inventor is in Madison, Wisconsin, I suspected the actual owner of the patent was Trek, and finding the old patent confirmed this. Here’s the “Abstract,” or “what it does” portion of the original patent:

A bicycle steerer tube assembly having an oblong asymmetric cross section formed along a portion of the steerer tube. The asymmetric portion of the steerer tube has a first diameter that is generally aligned with an axis of rotation of the front wheel and a second diameter that is generally aligned with a plane of rotation of the front wheel. The first diameter is greater than the second diameter and provides lateral stiffness to the wheel assembly and the second diameter accommodates longitudinal impact absorption of the fork and wheel assembly.”

The potential significance of this is pretty mind-blowing. If I’m reading this correctly–and I’m pretty sure I’m at least close–what this patent actually says is that Trek was granted ownership of tapered steerer tubes this past May.

As in all tapered steerer tubes.

Meaning that pretty much every bike above $1000 and made in the last few years features intellectual property now owned by Trek.

If this is, indeed, the case, the real question becomes, “Will they enforce this patent?” and, if so, to what degree? Conceivably, every bike with a tapered steerer tube owes Trek money. Given that the original patent was approved less than a year ago, it’s possible the hammer just hasn’t come down yet–and it’s also possible that, despite the initial approval of a clearly very broad idea, clarification was required before anything could really be enforced, and this has required the submission for a second patent. My fourth least-favorite thing in the world (behind Nickleback, vampires who fall in love humans, and chewing aluminum foil) is half-cocked internet rumor-mongering, so it’s important to point out that this could be no big deal–companies hold all kinds of patents, and not every intellectual battle is as bloody as, say, Apple versus Samsung. Maybe this all means nothing.

But wow. It’s hard to believe a patent this broad could be granted, and that Trek could conceivably declare all tapered steerer designs liable for encroaching on their intellectual turf, but I believe the possibility is at least there, based on this information.

Personally, I’d like to think that Trek is above taking any action on this patent, assuming they can, but it’s a mad world. Many, many crazy patent wars have already been waged–many behind the curtain–in the bicycle industry. I can still remember walking past a Santa Cruz Superlight in one of my mechanics’ bike stands and noticing a patent number stamped on the swingarm. Suffice to say, it didn’t belong to Santa Cruz–the company who’d originated that type of swingarm design. Seems somebody had come in underneath them and snaked the IP on that fabrication method, which to this day seems like one of the biggest dick moves possible. But there have been plenty, and Specialized’s recent drunken swing at Volagi proves we’re not all one big happy industry, sitting around the campfire, drinking microbrews and sharing mutual respect.

What do you think? If one company had the ability to claim something that’s become such a part of all decent bicycles, should they? If Trek developed this technology out ahead of everyone else, then they’re right to own it, but boy would it be something for them to take ownership of that now. I suspect we’d be looking at a blizzard of licensing deals being put together, like what happens in smartphones and other competitive technology sectors, and most of us would go on buying whatever bike we wanted, oblivious to the money changing hands behind the scenes.

Or this could be a real mess.