Strava claims the watch company infringed on two major patents
STRAVA, a leading running app, is suing Garmin and demands that the smartwatch company ‘stop making watches.’
Strava, which has over 150 million users, is suing Garmin, known for its fitness and outdoor watches, over key patents that it believes the company stole.
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Garmin is being sued by StravaCredit: Getty
Strava, a running app, is suing the smartwatch company for infringing on its patentsCredit: Alamy
The popular fitness app allows users to track their exercise and share it with their friends.
The company is now suing Garmin, arguing that it stole Strava’s patented segments and heatmaps feature, Runner’s World reported.
Strava first gave a written notice of infringement to the smartwatch company in June and July, the lawsuit states.
On September 30, Strava filed a lawsuit with the US District Court for the District of Colorado.
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The company argued that Garmin’s alleged infringement caused Strava to suffer damages.
The damages include “lost revenue and business opportunities, erosion of competitive differentiation and network effects, harm to goodwill and unjust gains to Garmin.”
In the lawsuit, Strava first argued that Garmin infringed on its patent for segments.
A segment allows users to track a specific part of their run and compare their time to that of their friends.
Garmin has had the segment feature on its products since 2014, when the company launched the Garmin Connect app.
However, Strava filed for a patent on segments in 2011 and was granted it in 2015.
The two companies came together under a Master Cooperation Agreement, which enabled Strava Live Segments to be available on Garmin devices, such as the Forerunner 970 and Venu X1.
The live segments allowed users to check their progress against segment leaderboards.
Since signing the MCA in April 2015, Strava now argues that the watch company has violated the terms of the agreement.
The company argues that Garmin has used the Strava model to develop a new segment that competes with Strava rather than aligns with it.
Timeline of the Garmin and Strava’s relationship
Strava also argues that Garmin infringes upon its heatmaps feature.
Heatmaps allow users to find and plan popular running routes.
Strava filed a patent for its heatmaps in 2014 and 2016.
The patents were granted in 2016 and 2017.
Strava is now claiming that Garmin copied its heatmaps feature, despite the company having had heatmaps on its products since 2013.
“Our lawsuit is between two companies; we do not intend to take any actions that would disrupt the ability of Garmin users to sync their data with Strava and hope that Garmin values our shared users in the same way,” a Strava spokesperson said.