UPDATE 06/10: Suunto has also sued Garmin since this article was written. We unpack the Strava-Garmin-Suunto lawsuit situation here.
- Strava is suing Garmin for patent infringement
- It claims Garmin’s segments and heatmaps features go against its patents
- Strava is looking to block the sale of Garmin’s infringing tech (which is a lot of devices inclduing smartwatches and bike computers)
Strava and Garmin look set to enter into a legal battle that could see your smart watch lose some training features, or even seriously impact the availability of the best Garmin watches, the company’s other hardware, and its Connect platform.
So what’s happening? Well, Strava is suing Garmin in the US because it alleges the fitness hardware brand infringed on Strava’s patents, and breached a master cooperation agreement the duo reached back in 2015 (spotted by DC Rainmaker).
The patents relate to Strava’s segments and heatmaps features – which let runners and cyclists can compare performance across sections of routes, and see routes that are particularly popular with other athletes respectively.
Garmin and Strava both offer variations of these features, but Strava argues Garmin’s versions are in violation of their cooperation agreement. As such, Strava is not only seeking financial damages, it has also requested an injunction to stop Garmin selling products that support these features – which includes essentially all of its best fitness trackers, bike computers, and the Connect fitness platform.
So you might want to wait and see how the dispute develops before buying that new Garmin smart watch you’ve been eying up.
What will happen next?
At the time of writing we’re still at the early stages of this lawsuit. That means no devices or features are affected yet – and the duo may come to some agreement before their disagreement reaches a court room.
However, in a statement to The Verge Strava claims “Garmin rejected Strava’s repeated attempts to address Garmin’s infringement informally, forcing Strava to take a stand on the matter and file suit,” suggesting their disagreement may stretch on.
If devices are banned there’s a chance they won’t be gone for good. Instead it may look like what happened with the Apple Watch after it was involved in a patent lawsuit related to blood oxygen sensors. In this case, Apple was able to patch the feature out via a software update and keep selling its devices.
If a judge does make a decision in Strava’s favor with regards to a sale ban, this could be the route Garmin takes to keep offering its hardware, and possibly a trimmed-down version of Garmin Connect.
That said, the dispute looks far from cut and dried.
Garmin’s heatmap feature dates back to 2013, predating the 2014 and 2016 patents Strava mentions in its lawsuit. As for the segments feature, Garmin’s debuted in 2013, which is after Strava filed a patent in 2011.
So we’ll have to watch and see what happens in this case, and if it does progress we might not see a final verdict for years with litigation and appeals – as things develop we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
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