Spinning is a brand of
indoor bicycles and indoor cycling instruction classes distributed and licensed by the American health and fitness company
Mad Dogg Athletics. Launched in 1993, the brand has become a popular term for indoor bicycles and indoor cycling fitness classes in the United States and worldwide.
There are ongoing disputes to whether Spinning has become a generic term for indoor cycling equipment and Mad Dogg's trademark should be removed.
History
The Spinning indoor cycling program was developed by South African endurance bicycle racer
Jonathan Goldberg, in 1987. Early prototypes were targeted towards endurance athletes as a substitute for outdoor bicycle training.
The Johnny G Spinning Center was first opened in 1989, in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. Later it was moved to
Karen Voight Fitness in
1992 . In 1993, Goldberg and his business partner John Baudhuin launched the Spinning indoor cycling fitness program in Santa Monica, California.
The first Spinning brand indoor cycling programs were held in
Crunch gyms in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
.
In 1995, Spinning bikes would debut at a trade show as part of a deal Goldberg and Baudhuin made with the
Schwinn Bicycle Company
The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name.
The company was founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895, and in the 20th century became the domi ...
.
In 1996, there were more than a thousand Official Spinning Facilities spanning over 30 countries.
In 2003, Star Trac replaced Schwinn as the bike manufacturer for Spinning.
Goldberg retired from the company in 2004.
In 2015, Mad Dogg Athletics partnered with Precor to create a new line of commercial Spinning bikes.
Possible generic term
Spinning has become a
generic term
Trademark distinctiveness is an important concept in the law governing trademarks and service marks. A trademark may be eligible for registration, or registrable, if it performs the essential trademark function, and has distinctive character. Re ...
in the United States, and a generic term can not function as a trademark. However, Mad Dogg Athletics has registered Spinning as a trademark on the Principal Register of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...
. A registration on the Principal Register does not create ownership rights under the laws of the United States, and a registration may be challenged and removed if the challenger proves as a matter of fact that the alleged trademark has become generic.
Mad Dogg Athletics continues to defend the Spinning trademark against its generic use and has recently expanded its focus and efforts on brand protection.
Based on the brand's widespread popularity, it has potentially become a generic term for indoor cycling in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
. However, in November 2018, the
General Court (European Union)
The General Court, informally known as the European General Court (EGC), is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member stat ...
upheld Mad Dogg's rights and found that the brand was not a generic term.
In February 2021, popular indoor cycling brand ''Peloton'' appealed to have the 20-year old trademark canceled, clamining the term Spinning had become a generic term. Just days before the trial, ''Peloton'' dropped its lawsuit for the removal of the 'spinning' trademark.
Related products
To protect its trademark for the term Spinning, Mad Dogg Athletics commonly refers to its products and services as the "SPINNING brand", "SPINNING indoor cycling", "SPINNING certification", and similar terms, not just "Spinning".
See also
*
CrossFit
CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...
, is a comparable American brand and potentially
genericized trademark
A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...
.
*
Indoor Cycling
Indoor cycling, often called spinning, is a form of exercise with classes focusing on endurance, strength, intervals, high intensity (race days) and recovery, and involves using a special stationary exercise bicycle with a weighted flywheel in a c ...
, for information about the generic sport of spinning.
References
{{Wiktionary, Spinning
Exercise equipment
Cycle retailers
Brands that became generic