In the latest development in ongoing patent infringement litigation between Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter, the Federal Court of Appeals of Canada has upheld a January 2012 ruling that found Bell Helicopter liable for punitive damages for infringing a Eurocopter patent for helicopter landing gear.
The case is one of several that Eurocopter has brought against Bell in Canada, the United States and Europe, claiming that Bell intentionally copied the “Moustache” landing gear on Eurocopter EC120 and EC130 helicopters when it designed the landing gear for the Bell 429.
Canadian court upholds ruling in landing gear fight | Canadian Aviation News
Well there we are, I've heard it called just about everything now. 'Sleigh', 'tubular', 'looped' .. today its 'moustache' !
As I've said before, I do not believe EC conceived this style as there are many pre-cursors to their 'sleigh' design (as per the Colibri) but .. I suppose they were the first to patent this arrangement.
You also have to wonder about EC's timing for the initial suit .. only filed once the 429 went into production with units being delivered, despite the fact that EC viewed the original style skids for the 429 several years beforehand,
afaik that is.