Put brake on infringement

A Boise start-up is hitting back in federal court at a dozen vehicle manufacturers it claims have infringed on its 2002 patent for an automatic brake control system that makes it less likely for a vehicle to roll out of park when it’s not supposed to.

The company, 55 Brake LLC, is now all but defunct, though it was once recognized as one of Idaho’s most promising young businesses, including winning the Idaho Business Review’s “Innovator of the Year” award in 2002 and signing an international licensing agreement with one of the world’s largest brake manufacturers in 2004. At least 40 of its brake systems were installed in school buses in seven states, according to news accounts.
One company founder, David MacGregor, said 55 Brake’s product was innovative and filled a definite demand in the marketplace. The only problem, he said, is that the wrong companies were making it and weren’t paying any royalties for the technology.
“The world likes it. That’s the upside of it,” MacGregor said. “It’s very satisfying to know how neat it was because everyone went out and made it. It isn’t gratifying that they didn’t pay.”
The company’s automatic brake control system matured in a short amount of time from a simple electric device that would lock a school bus’ air brakes into place without a key in the ignition to a computerized system with sensors that could be applied to wheelchair lifts, cranes and other specialty equipment.
The state of Idaho even agreed to reimburse school districts that installed the devices on their buses.
“What they did develop was a terrific product,” said Rick Vycital, director of the Small Business Development Center in Boise, who helped the company develop a business plan, recruit a CEO and line up angel investors.
“I hope they succeed in this (lawsuit),” he said. “Big business trod all over them. I know that when Jaguar and some of the foreign makers came out using the brake-by-wire systems, they were identical and hadn’t offered them until a couple years after (55 Brake) had filed their patent.”
The story of 55 Brake begins on Highway 55 in Cascade a little more than 10 years ago.
MacGregor was having a cup of coffee with his friend, Dale Maslonka, a Horseshoe Bend school bus driver and mechanic, in Gramma’s Family Restaurant in Cascade. Maslonka had just dropped off a bus load of children for a basketball game at the nearby school, when the bus he parked at the top of the hill shifted out of park for an unknown reason, rolled downhill and crashed into a car near the intersection with Highway 55.
Nobody was hurt, but Maslonka, an able mechanic and longtime driver, wanted to make sure that nothing like it ever happened again.
He believed he had done nothing wrong, having activated the parking brake, but he wanted to create a system that worked even if he had erred.
After a few weeks tinkering in his shop, Maslonka created the first prototype, a system that wouldn’t release the brakes without a key in the ignition. That would prevent a bus with an air brake system from rolling, even if the air pressure in the system decreased from leakage.
That led to several more prototypes, and another friend, electrical engineer Noble Hamilton, helped the pair create a system with a circuit board that could be wired into a wide range of equipment.
MacGregor put up some capital, and the three started a company.
Their product was a “conglomeration” of manufactured parts – including a circuit board, wiring harness, air valve and electric switch – that the company would assemble at installation, MacGregor said.
The company never raised enough capital to begin large-scale production, he said.
 “It was a good idea from a guy that was taking care of school buses in Horseshoe Bend, a good mechanic,” MacGregor said. “It was a good idea, and it was his original idea. Noble and I helped him perfect it a little bit.”
Vycital said the automatic braking system was “a good product at the right time.” He sees growing demand for the technology now that it’s been proven successful in dozens of vehicle models.
“It would take very little for another round of investors to come in and move that product out to market,” he said. “Should they come back? Yeah, they should.”
55 Brake filed suit in federal court on April 21 against Audi of America Inc., BMW of North America LLC, Chrysler LLC, Daimler North America Corp., Ford Motor Co., Hyundai Motor America, Land Rover North America Inc., Mazda Motor of America Inc, Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., Volkswagen of America Inc. and Volvo Cars of North America Inc.