Dahon, the leading brand of folding bicycles, said it had reached a settlement with Tern in their legal dispute of almost two years, which should put an end to the distraction caused by a bitter row between two sides of the Hon family. The legal spat erupted in June 2011 when Joshua Hon and Florence Shen broke away from Dahon to set up a competing firm, Tern Bicycles. The two executives are the son and estranged wife of David Hon, the founder of Dahon. The two parties then disagreed about the ownership of specific Dahon-related assets (as reported in detail in SGI Europe at the time), such as the Dahon.com website and intellectual property. Ahead of Taipei Cycle last week, David Hon sent a letter to Dahon's distributors and retail partners, which studiously avoided mentioning Tern but stated that “the uncertainties of litigation that have plagued our brand these past two years have been amicably settled.” However, the company declined to provide further details as yet, and a spokesman for Tern refused to comment.

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