There has been a lot of talk in the last few days about the Fitness appetite Strava and the Finnish Smartwatch Company Suunto, which submits separate litigation against Garmin -and what it means for the millions of people who own one or more of the best Garmin watches.
We have broken the whole situation from below with the probable results of this ever -developing legal quagmire.
Strava’s trial and what it means to you
Strava/Garmin suit goes back to 2011, when Strava filed the patent for what would become its segment technology. Segments allow users to determine how well they have done between two points on a course using GPS technology to provide data about the user traveling between these points.
The patent was eventually awarded in 2015, but Garmin pipped Strava to the position and released his own segment function in 2014 on the edge 1000 bicycle computer. Since then, Garmin and Strava collaborated on a Master Collaboration Agreement to put Strava Live -segments on Garmin units, and the two have worked closely for a decade.
Now, Strava has filed three counts of patent violation against Garmin and one for violation of the contract, as described by Garminrumors – apparently to have violated this agreement.
Section 55 of the trial states: “Garmin expanded far beyond the extent of this agreement. Garmin built, marked and widespread the Garmin -labeled segments outside the strava -built experience and to non -trava users; activated segment competition and leaderboards over Garmin Connect (web and mobile) and on units; exhibitions. “
Strava has now decided to intervene in a long -term question between the couple, no matter how close Strava and Garmin have worked together on the function.
The other two counts about patent violation refer to Heatmaps and how other users’ routes are recommended and displayed to you in the Garmin and Strava apps. This patent, which was filed in 2016 under the title ‘Generating User Preference Activity Maps’ and awarded in 2017, has reportedly been flown by Garmin ‘from July 25, 2025’.
Strava has requested the court’s allocation of compensation and ordered Garmin to permanently cease the sale of watches with the abusive technology.
It is the biggest concern for users: that Garmin Watches are not sold until the legal situation is resolved or Garmin is forced to remove functions from its watches, via a software update when Apple was with its blood oxygen sensor. We know more for sure for the next few days.
A revealing Reddit -post
Setting the record just about Garmin from R/Strava
It sounds all relatively straightforward, but another question has emerged that may explain why Strava has chosen to weapon this long -standing problem now.
Strava’s Chief Product Officer Matt Salazar went to Strava Subbreddit on Friday, October 3rd to solve a problem with Garmin’s API or application programming interface. Garmin wants to display his logo when its data is shared into third -party services, including Strava, and allegedly threatens to withdraw from these services if it is unable to do so.
Salazar wrote: “We are already delivering attribution to any data partner, but Garmin will use Strava and any other partner as an advertising platform – they told us that they are interested in their marketing than your user experience. We consider this your data.”
It seems that the time of this is not random. Garmin has presented Strava with an ultimatum, so Strava shoots back, tries to drum up to support in the Strava community and introduce a seemingly non-related patent conflict.
Unfortunately for Strava, Reddit Post Backfired. Reddit users were quick to point out hypocrisy as Strava shows its own logo when shared data for other apps, and have taken min-or-highway approaches with third-party apps before.
“I don’t think for a moment that you do this to stand up for us and our data and our user experience, and no one else is buying it either,” said a poster.
“As a premium (paid) Strava member, I will be aware that Strava’s only need for me if it works with Garmin. The moment Strava no longer syncs with Garmin Connect is the last time I open Strava.” said another.
At the time of writing, the post has 0 upvotes and over 1,300 comments. Oof.
What about Suunto?
It looks like Suunto has smelled blood in the water and wants to participate in that feeding frenzy and beat Garmin with his own trial, claiming Garmin has violated at least five Suunto-filed patents.
These include patents on golf watches, such as a wrist -driven computer that can detect a strike event and determine a ball’s position using GPS; an energy-efficient method of using heartbeat-sensor data to determine a carrier’s respiratory rate; And an antenna mounting technology that also allows the incorporation of additional metal components without disturbing signal or reception.
Suunto names a lot of watches, including Fenix, Forerunner, Venu, Instinct and Epix Ranges. It even goes after Ultra-Premium Marq intervals, such as Garmin Marq golfer Gen 2, which we recently awarded five stars in our review.
Suunto is looking for compensation from Garmin due to potential loss of income, but does not require it to stop the sale of these watches -a relief for those looking for Amazon Big Deal -Days discounts on the like of Garmin Fenix 8. Even if Suunto’s case is retained, you will still be able to grab a Garmin.
