The outlet of a Chinese electric skateboard company has been raided by US marshals at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The hoverboard vendor was reportedly raided on Thursday for displaying products that have been patented by another company, according to Bloomberg.

Changzhou First International Trade showed off their electric skateboard called Trotter during the event. However, two US marshals came and got hold off their booth's displays including the one-wheeled skateboard and its promotional signs and fliers. During the incident, even the company's  personnel were reportedly stunned.

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The raid occured after the US marshals served a court order filed by Silicon Valley startup Future Motion claiming copyright infringement. The company's CEO Kyle Doerksen claims that the self-balancing electric skateboard presented by the Chinese company was his original idea and he reportedly obtained patent for it in the past months.

Future Motion sent its legal team as well as two marshals to the Chinese company's booth to confiscate their products. Consumer Technology Association, the event organizers, and the Changzhou First International Trade booth manager, both refused to give any statements, saying that they need to consult their respective lawyers first.

Future Motion's patent protects the company from potential rivals by preventing others from designing something that might confuse consumers with the OneWheel. The company claims it first became aware of Changzhou First International Trade after the company posted a OneWheel photo in an online forum. In the company's listing, posted on Alibaba, it said it can reproduce about 2000 pieces of the hoverboard at $500 each. This is actually threefold cheaper compared with Future Motions' $1500 OneWheel. According to Alibaba, some retailers from Iceland, United States and Germany patronized the product and bought a total worth of $70,000.

Future Motion's legal consultant Shawn Kolitch initially contacted the Chinese manufacturer's attention through a letter demanding an end to its production and sale of the hoverboard. But he never gotten a response. Kolitch is said to have personally approached the booth a day before the event started to register his client's complaints. But to no avail. On Wednesday afternoon, Kolitch took the matter to court and a order was issued before the Chinese company's booth was raided and its products were confiscated.

Meanwhile, Changzhou First International Trade claims it was surprised to find out it had broken the law. The Chinese firm says that it has long been creating hoverboards in secret to prevent other Chinese enterprises from copying, and this is the first time its name has been dragged into piracy issues.

Even if the CES was flooded with hoverboard products, the Chinese company's surfing electric scooters got attention because it only has one wheel, instead of the conventional two wheels. Apparently, this is similar to Future Motion's OneWheel that utilizes computer and sensor technology to maintain balance.

Kolitch said the Chinese company could be served a permanent injunction and be made to monetary damages as well as attorney's fees if the court rules in his client's favor. He revealed that his client's patents are awaiting approval in other countries including China. The two patents involved in the case are the OneWheel vehicle's design (for which Future Motion acquired a patent a few months ago) and the self-stabilizing ability of the skateboard (which was patented in April 2014).

"If customers start to view the space as full of low-quality, low-cost products, that reflects poorly on everybody," said Doerksen. "We hate to see someone poison the well."

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