Shimano wins case against SRAM

At the Regional Court of Munich I, Shimano has won its case against SRAM Germany. The case concerned Shimano's patented "Hyperglide" technology, which allows smooth gear changes even under full load thanks to various climbing and shifting aids on the sprockets. SRAM has been offering "Powerglide II" cassettes of the 5.0 and 7.0 series for several years - SRAM recently had considerable success with the 7.0 cassette in the original equipment sector. Following the ruling, SRAM will soon have to withdraw these cassettes from the German market: Even the announced appeal has no suspensive effect.

As the defendant company, SRAM Deutschland GmbH has announced that it will in any case appeal the ruling to the next higher instance. SRAM will stop supplying the affected cassettes to Germany as soon as Shimano has met the requirements of the authorities - including the provision of a security. At the same time, however, an attempt will be made to suspend the sales ban before the same court. In general, SRAM continues to seek talks with Shimano and is interested in an amicable solution.

The new marketing manager of Shimano Europe, Harald Troost, is less conciliatory: He let it be known via press release that Shimano is very satisfied with this ruling, especially as the company has invested a lot of time and money in the research and market launch of the "Hyperglide" technology. He also made it clear that Shimano would definitely provide the required security in order to stop the delivery of SRAM cassettes in Germany. Shimano is currently leaving it open as to whether the procedure will also be pursued in other countries: The Munich ruling explicitly only applies to the German market.