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Draft:Neck Flex

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Comment: Resubmitting after citation repairs: the three strongest independent sources now carry direct URLs, corrected headlines, and the correct byline - Bloomberg Law (staff news, July 2021 and December 2, 2021), Law360 (staff news, December 2021), and IPWatchdog (Logan Murr, December 7, 2021). The IPWatchdog piece is standalone analysis of why this injunction was exceptional, not routine docket coverage. Independent coverage outside the litigation includes Washington Business Journal staff reporting (July 9, 2025, on the F1 film appearance, with sales figures and company detail) and a WBJ print feature (August 2025). I have a declared paid COI (see my user page) and will follow reviewer guidance. Lewis131310 (talk) 02:35, 22 August 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: This resubmission was done by the co-owner with further edits and rewrites from Gonza's patent attorney. The introduction has been shortened, promotional language removed, and every citation vetted so that it accurately supports its sentence. My conflict of interest is declared on my user page. Lewis131310 (talk) 01:12, 4 September 2026 (UTC)
Neck Flex
TypeBrand of Gonza LLC
IndustryFitness equipment
Founded2010; first product 2012
FoundersThomas Harrison Hunt
Z. W. Elam
Headquarters
Leesburg, Virginia
,
United States
ProductsNeck-training head harnesses and attachments
Number of employees
10 (2025)
Websitetheneckflex.com

Neck Flex is an American brand of neck-training equipment made by Gonza LLC, a company based in Leesburg, Virginia. Its products include head harnesses that let a user work the muscles of the neck against resistance from bands, cables, or weight plates, in flexion, extension, side-to-side movement, and rotation. The brand was started in 2010 by Thomas Harrison Hunt and Z. W. Elam, and its first product went on sale in 2012.[1][2]

The Neck Flex harness was selected as the training equipment in three peer-reviewed papers from a Royal Danish Air Force study of neck exercise among helicopter crews.[3] A Neck Flex harness was worn by Brad Pitt's rival in the film F1 during a scene featuring neck training,[4] as well as in the film's trailer.[5]

Gonza LLC has been granted five United States utility patents for the neck exercise harness design.[6] A federal court considered the patented features unique enough to support a rare preliminary injunction against another company accused of copying the Neck Flex.[7] The Court stated "[t]he improvements include vertically oriented D-Rings on quadrants of the harness."[7]

History

[edit]

In 2010, Elam, an Army veteran, had recently come home from a deployment in Iraq and Hunt was working as a business broker. The pair trained together and noticed gyms had little in the way of neck equipment.[2][1] Their goal was to fill a gap in the market. Two years produced nine prototypes resulting in a sellable product in 2012.[1] That 2012 date was later recorded as the first-use date on the company's federal trademark registration.[8]

Early on, the pair were featured on the YouTube channel of strength athlete Mike "The Machine" Bruce, and they later brought Bruce in as a public face of the brand and a collaborator on the design.[2]

Products

[edit]

Neck Flex sells several lines of neck harnesses. The HALO Series is the original design, built from nylon webbing and metal hardware designed for band-based training but compatible with cables and chains. The MMB Pro Series, developed with Mike Bruce, is a heavier-duty version that adds additional attachment points and is specifically designed for bands, cables that attach to weight stacks, and a provided chain that loads weights. The Ballistic Kevlar Series is an identical design with different colors and Kevlar stitching. The Revolver Rotation Attachment is a pulley wheel attaching to the Neck Flex harnesses by a braided steel cable to add resistance through neck rotation and turning motions.[2][9]

Patents

[edit]

Gonza LLC was awarded five U.S. utility patents, each titled "Neck Exercise Device and System" and naming Hunt and Elam as inventors. The first patent, U.S. patent 11,007,405, issued on May 18, 2021. It described a head harness with several vertically arranged attachment points that allow the neck to be trained in flexion, extension, side flexion, and rotation.[6]

Patent litigation

[edit]

On July 28, 2021, Gonza LLC sued Mission Competition Fitness Equipment LLC (MCFE) in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, accusing the company's Iron Neck Alpha Harness of infringing U.S. Patent No. 11,007,405. In its complaint, Gonza said MCFE copied the patented design and used inferior materials. Gonza further argued MCFE's "Alpha Harness" would erode Neck Flex's reputation and goodwill, because buyers might not tell it apart from the authentic Neck Flex, and that it would also cost the company sales and market share.[10][11][7] Neck Flex asked the Court to issue a preliminary injunction, i.e., an order issued before any trial took place, requiring MCFE immediately to stop selling the "Iron Neck" products copied from Neck Flex.[7]

On December 1, 2021, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright granted the preliminary injunction in favor of Gonza.[7] He determined Gonza was likely to prove infringement and overcome the defendant's response. Judge Albright held "price erosion, loss of goodwill, damage to reputation, and loss of business opportunities are all valid grounds for finding irreparable harm" and that harm to reputation "resulting from confusion between an inferior accused product and a patentee's superior product is a type of harm that is often not fully compensable" in money. The Court's Order observed that the accused harness appeared to match the Neck Flex "apparently even down to the stitching pattern" and barred MCFE from selling or advertising the Iron Neck Alpha Harness while the case continued.[7][12] The intellectual-property publication IPWatchdog covered the case and described such preliminary injunctions as "rare."[13]

The two sides settled, and the first suit was jointly dismissed in July 2022. Gonza filed a second suit against the same company in May 2023 for infringement of related patents. That case was jointly dismissed with prejudice in March 2024 after another settlement. The design of the Iron Neck Alpha Harness changed over the course of the two cases to eliminate some of the patented Neck Flex features.[2]

Use in research

[edit]

The Neck Flex harness has appeared as the training equipment in sports-medicine research. Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark published three peer-reviewed papers between 2015 and 2020, from a randomized controlled trial of neck and shoulder exercise among Royal Danish Air Force helicopter pilots and crew. The trial protocol and the main results appeared in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. A subsequent analysis of muscle function appeared in Frontiers in Public Health. All three papers name the training equipment by brand. The 2020 paper lists it as "The Original Neck Flex Head Harness."[14][15][3]

Of the 108 pilots and crew members invited from two squadrons, 69 took part.[15] The training group did three 20-minute sessions a week on their own for 20 weeks. In the 2020 analysis, the people who trained gained strength in neck extension while an untrained comparison group lost strength over the same period.[3]

[edit]

In July 2025 the Washington Business Journal reported that Neck Flex equipment appears in a training scene in F1, the 2025 Apple Studios film directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt, in a training montage with Damson Idris as a rival driver. According to the paper, the appearance was not paid for. The film's physical trainer already knew the product because it is common with Formula One drivers.[4] Apple Studios featured the Neck Flex in the film's trailer as well.[5]

Actress Halle Bailey used the device while training for the 2023 film The Little Mermaid.[4]

Fitness figures including Jeff Nippard and Jeff Cavaliere, have promoted the Neck Flex brand.[4][2]

Community involvement

[edit]

Gonza LLC has donated Neck Flex equipment to youth sports teams and to the football and wrestling programs at Braxton County High School in Braxton County, West Virginia, where Hunt grew up.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 Given, Ed (2026-07-27). "Braxton County native Tom Hunt takes Neck Flex from Sutton farm to global sports market". WV News. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Neibauer, Michael (2025-08-01). "Small Business Spotlight: Neck Flex". Washington Business Journal. Vol. 44, no. 16. pp. 30–31.
  3. 1 2 3 Murray, Mike; Lange, Britt; Søgaard, Karen; Sjøgaard, Gisela (2020). "The effect of physical exercise training on neck and shoulder muscle function among military helicopter pilots and crew: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial". Frontiers in Public Health. 8 546286. Bibcode:2020FrPH....846286M. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.546286. PMC 7661577. PMID 33194955.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Diallo, Razak (2025-07-09). "Neck Flex scores a cameo in Brad Pitt's 'F1' summer blockbuster". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  5. 1 2 F1 The Movie – Main Trailer. Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films. 2025. Event occurs at 2:09. Retrieved 2026-09-02 – via YouTube.
  6. 1 2 "US11007405B2: Neck exercise device and system". Google Patents. Retrieved 2026-08-21. Assignee: Gonza LLC. Related family patents: US 11,413,491; 11,638,850; 11,638,851; 12,029,936.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gonza LLC v. Mission Competition Fitness Equipment LLC (W.D. Tex. 2021-12-01) ("Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, ECF No. 17"), Text.
  8. ↑ "NECK FLEX - Trademark Details (Serial No. 88592849)". United States Patent and Trademark Office record, via Justia Trademarks. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  9. ↑ "Products". theneckflex.com. Neck Flex. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  10. ↑ "'Neck Flex' Maker Claims Rival Copied Patented Workout Gear". Bloomberg Law. July 2021. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  11. ↑ "Albright Bars Fitness Co. From Selling Neck Device, For Now". Law360. December 2021. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  12. ↑ "Fitness Co. Hit With Injunction in Neck Exercise Patent Suit". Bloomberg Law. 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  13. ↑ Murr, Logan (2021-12-07). "Albright Grants Rare Preliminary Injunction Against Fitness Company". IPWatchdog. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  14. ↑ Murray, Mike; Lange, Britt; Nørnberg, Bo Riebeling; Søgaard, Karen; Sjøgaard, Gisela (2015). "Specific exercise training for reducing neck and shoulder pain among military helicopter pilots and crew members: a randomized controlled trial protocol". BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 16 198. doi:10.1186/s12891-015-0655-6. PMC 4541746. PMID 26286597.
  15. 1 2 Murray, Mike; Lange, Britt; Nørnberg, Bo Riebeling; Søgaard, Karen; Sjøgaard, Gisela (2017). "Self-administered physical exercise training as treatment of neck and shoulder pain among military helicopter pilots and crew: a randomized controlled trial". BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 18 (1) 147. doi:10.1186/s12891-017-1507-3. PMC 5387250. PMID 28399842.

Category:Exercise equipment Category:Physical exercise Category:American companies established in 2010 Category:Companies based in Virginia Category:Manufacturing companies based in Virginia

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