Strava sues Garmin for patent infringement and breach of contract
The latest shake up in the sporting world is that Strava has filed a lawsuit against Garmin in the US for patent infringement and breach of contract. The lawsuit relates to two of the platform’s most popular features.
Heatmap Patents
One of Strava’s patents (US9778651B2) is directed towards collecting data from user activities to generate a heatmap of popular segments. The second patent (US9297653B1) directed to the heatmap feature discloses the plotting of routes between user inputted start and end points incorporating popular segments from the heatmap.
Many users are reporting that Garmin had a heatmap feature on their platform pre-dating the Strava heatmap patents. As such, it seems that Garmin might have a case for invalidating these patents for lack of novelty.
Segment Comparison Patent
The third patent (US9116922B2) in question covers Strava’s popular segment leaderboard.
Strava segments have virtual start and finish lines in the real world, and the leaderboard allows users to compare their efforts on segments against other users’ efforts. The segment comparison feature has been a flagship feature and contributed greatly to the success of the company. Strava filed the ‘922 patent in 2011 and in 2014 Garmin launched a similar feature on their platform.
Interestingly, the two companies later collaborated under an agreement to introduce a live segment feature on Garmin devices. This feature allowed users to get information such as start and end points of upcoming Strava segments on their Garmin devices during their activities. Strava is claiming that Garmin have breached the contract. Whilst the exact details of the agreement are not yet public, it seems that Strava offered Garmin a licence to use their patented technology providing, amongst other things, that Garmin would stop developing their own competing heatmaps.
Outlook
In addition to damages, Strava is seeking a permanent injunction to prevent Garmin from selling devices which incorporate the heatmap and segment features due to the “irreparable harm” which has been caused by the patent infringement. If the injunction is granted, it will be interesting to see the divide between Strava and Garmin users.
It will also be interesting to see how this case develops, specifically the details of the agreement between the two parties. This case already highlights the value of licensing intellectual property rights and the significance of having a well drafted agreement in place.