What you need to know
- Strava's patent infringement case against Garmin appears to be coming to a quick conclusion as it filed for dismissal this week.
- Strava publicly called out Garmin for its API guidelines on social media in addition to filing the lawsuit, which concerned heat map and live segment patents.
- The company filed for dismissal just 21 days after submitting its initial lawsuit last month.
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Strava's public and legal dispute with Garmin took a surprising turn this week as the company moved to dismiss its lawsuit just 21 days after the initial filing. The patent infringement case was first filed by Strava against Garmin on Sept. 30 in the U.S. District Court for Colorado. As of Oct. 21, Strava submitted a court filing to dismiss the suit entirely.
As spotted by DC Rainmaker, the filing signals Strava is abandoning its patent infringement case against Garmin, which centered around heat maps and live segments. At the time, Strava requested a permanent injunction on the sale of Garmin watches and bike computers that it claimed used its patented technology.
The case never materialized further as Strava pulled the lawsuit before the two companies had the chance to state their positions before a judge. “Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i), Plaintiff Strava, Inc., by and through its undersigned counsel, voluntarily dismisses the above-captioned action, without prejudice," the succinct court filing states.
Garmin and Strava appeared to have a close relationship before the lawsuit, with Garmin data being a key part of Strava's platform. It's unclear how the two companies will interact going forward, or what may have transpired behind the scenes. Either way, it looks like Strava's aggressive move against Garmin is coming to a quick end.
How Strava and Garmin got here
Strava's dispute with Garmin not only transpired via court filings, but also in public. Matt Salazar, the chief product officer at Strava, made a Reddit post titled "Setting the record straight about Garmin" shortly after Strava's lawsuit was first filed. The post criticized Garmin's developer guidelines for API partners, which as of July 1 required the Garmin logo to appear on content including its data.
"Unfortunately we could not justify to our users complying with the new guidelines," Salazar wrote. "As such, we have tried to resolve this situation with Garmin over the course of the past five months, including proposing additional attribution across the platform in a less intrusive way, but to no avail."
Setting the record straight about Garmin from r/Strava
In the post's replies, many Strava users criticizing the move, stating that they likely wouldn't pay for or use the platform without Garmin data and integrations. Others called out Strava's comments as being hypocritical, as it has a similar API policy that stops other apps from displaying Strava data or using it for AI features.
The short legal battle came as Strava is prepping an initial public offering (IPO), possibly as soon as next year. The dispute put Strava front-and-center in wearable news for a few weeks, but it's unclear whether the dropped litigation attempt could help or hurt its eventual IPO.
In a completely separate case, fitness watch brand Suunto also sued Garmin for patent infringement this month. Strava's dismissal has no effect on the Suunto/Garmin lawsuit as a result, and it's safe to assume that case is still ongoing until we hear otherwise.
