Montreal launches innovative public bike system - BIXI

On May 12, 2009, BIXI, Montreal's innovative public bike system was launched. The concept, already very popular in Europe, consists of making bikes available for short-term rental at pay stations strategically located throughout the city. The user takes a bicycle from one of the stations, pays at an automated pay station, and drops the bike off at any pay station in the network.

BIXI's features include its modular nature (facilitating easy set up and removal, leaving no trace on its surroundings), a solar-powered wireless communication system, a unique anti-theft mechanism and a proven operational software system. Seven processes were patented during BIXI's development phase. Time Magazine named BIXI among its top 20 inventions of 2008.

A team of lawyers and patent agents from Fasken Martineau advised and continues to advise Société en commandite Stationnement de Montréal, which had been given the mandate to create, install and manage BIXI by the City of Montreal. Fasken Martineau lawyers and patent agents played a key role in the protection of many of the innovations linked to BIXI as well as a number of other legal aspects of the project. The Fasken Martineau team included Alexandre Abecassis, Serge Lapointe, Olivier Provost-Cao, David Turgeon, Cécile Chevalier, Denis Paquin, Jean-Philippe Mikus, Marek Nitoslawski, Marc-André Nadon, Chloé Latulippe and Julie Desrosiers.