Abus Folding Lock: Adding Damping to Joints
I use an ABUS everyday. Keep the lock orientated on its side, the friction in the joints will help it keep its form.  The friction is essentially the dampening units you interested in.  If you maintain this orientation you can set a shape and carefully pass it around something.  The moment you change the orientation, to something more vertical, the friction in the joints will lessen and the lock will take the lowest energy form (typically straight down, hitting you in the shin or chipping the paint on your frame - hrrmm...).

I am sure ABUS could add nylon washers to act as explicit dampers, furthering this friction effect, but this would likely increase the cost (for an already expensive lock) and could wear overtime adding slop to the joints.  Slop could be bad as it could make it easier for theives to insert wedges to try and attack the joints (arguably the weakest point of the lock).