Strava sues Garmin for patent infringement

The fitness industry has suddenly gotten a high-profile conflict: Strava has filed a lawsuit against Garmin, accusing the company of infringing on patents for workout route tracking features — segments (segments) and heatmaps (heatmaps). In addition, Strava alleges that Garmin has violated the cooperation agreement by developing its own heatmap service. The company is seeking an injunction against the sale of any Garmin devices and software with these features — and that would affect virtually all of its «hardware» and the Garmin Connect service.

The lawsuit came as a surprise, as Strava and Garmin have been working together for more than a decade and have many integrations. Analysts such as DC Rainmaker say Strava’s patent arguments look weak: Garmin has been using such features for a long time, and the lawsuit has only come up now.

The lawsuit was unexpected, as Strava and Garmin have been working together for a decade and have many integrations.

The situation became even more confusing after Strava product director Matt Salazar’s comment on Reddit. He said the reason for the aggressive action was Garmin’s new requirement for API partners to put the Garmin logo on every post, graph, image, and activity card. Salazar said it has to do with protecting user data, but looks more like a branding dispute — who exactly «owns» the visualization of the data collected.

Salazar said the move is about protecting user data, but looks more like a branding dispute — who exactly «owns» the visualization of data collected.

It’s unclear how the dispute will end, but experts believe Strava is unlikely to win in court. Users hope that the dispute will not lead to restrictions on services and familiar functions.