Strava has formally filed a lawsuit against Garmin in the U.S. District Court for Colorado, demanding that the company cease selling devices that use Strava’s patented features (via DC Rainmaker).
Strava’s case hinges on two patents. The first covers the concept of segments, which allow users to define portions of routes (for example, a hill climb) and compare time performance. The second deals with user-preference maps, sometimes called heatmaps, which aggregate data from many users to guide routing toward popular paths.
Strava claims Garmin first obtained limited permission to use Strava Segments under a Master Cooperation Agreement signed in 2015, but then violated the agreement by building competing systems using proprietary Strava technology.
In its demand, Strava is pushing for a permanent injunction that would block Garmin from selling or importing devices that incorporate these features. That would dramatically affect most Garmin fitness watches, cycling computers, and other hardware tied to route analytics and performance metrics.
Strava argues simply awarding monetary damages would not be sufficient to remedy the harm it claims to suffer, including lost revenue, erosion of its competitive differentiation, harm to goodwill, and unjust enrichment by Garmin.
Garmin, for its part, has remained publicly silent beyond a standard statement that it does not comment on pending litigation. However, according to coverage by analysts and tech writers, Garmin is likely to challenge the validity of Strava’s patents. One key issue is that Garmin had heatmap-style features as early as 2013 — before Strava filed its patent applications in 2014.
The timing of the lawsuit comes amid other major transitions at Strava. The company has been preparing for a possible initial public offering (IPO), and it has recently overhauled its API policies, which led to friction with several third-party developers.
Some observers speculate that Strava’s decision to sue Garmin may be aimed at shoring up its intellectual property position before going public, or renegotiating its collaboration terms with device makers now that Garmin is launching its own Garmin Connect+ subscription.
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