The world of connected fitness is facing a major IP battle as the social sports platform Strava has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against hardware manufacturer Garmin in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Strava is seeking a permanent injunction to block the sale of virtually all Garmin fitness watches and cycling computers, alongside financial damages.
The core of the dispute centres on two of Strava's main features: Segments and Heatmaps. Strava alleges that Garmin is infringing on its patents covering these technologies. Segments allow users to compete on defined sections of a road or trail, while heatmaps visualize aggregated user activity data to show popular routes.
The legal complaint goes beyond mere patent infringement. Strava claims Garmin breached a Master Cooperation Agreement (MCA) signed in 2015, which permitted Garmin to use Strava Live Segments on its devices under strict conditions. Strava argues that Garmin overstepped this agreement by developing its own competing "Garmin Segments" and popularity routing features outside the agreed-upon scope.
Adding to the complexity, Garmin is expected to defend itself by claiming prior art, pointing out that it offered its own heatmap and segment-like functionality on some devices even before Strava filed its respective patents. The lawsuit is seen by many industry observers as a tactical move by Strava, possibly fuelled by recent tensions over data-sharing and Garmin's new developer guidelines that required more prominent branding on shared data.
For millions of runners and cyclists, many of which are lawyers, and also IP lawyers (e.g. the Branditos cycling group at INTA and other IP conferences) the immediate user experience will not be affected, but the outcome of the case could force Garmin to significantly alter or remove key features from its Connect platform and devices.
This legal battle highlights the growing tension over IP and data control between software and hardware companies which often today rely on a symbiotic relationship.
Comments on social media suggest that Strava may suffer from this most of all, because users rely on the hardware first and foremost (watches and cycling computers), whereas Strava relies on uploaded data in a large part from Garmin devices along with Apple Watches etc.
