There is a Samsung sued against Oura to try to resolve intellectual property disputes such as Introducing the Galaxy Ring is approaching. The suit notes that Oura has used its patent portfolio to sue smaller wearable technology rivals and has hinted that it may do the same against the larger Samsung. Welcome to the strange modern world of mega-corporations suing startups.
“Oura’s actions and public statements indicate that Oura will continue to pursue patent infringement claims against other participants in the US smart ring market, including Samsung.” gave information about by The Verge, sings. “Oura’s immediate response to the Galaxy Ring announcement was to point to the perceived strength of its intellectual property portfolio.”
The lawsuit alleges Galaxy Ring Does not infringe on Oura’s patents. However, in substantiating its claim, it lays out a pattern of what it cites as aggressive IP defense by the Finnish startup. It cites instances in which Oura sued smaller competitors such as Ultrahuman, Circular and RingConn “on or before entering the US market.”
The document also mentions that Oura went on a media tour immediately after the Galaxy Ring announcement and that the company has “over 150 patents.” It specifically calls out patent-related citations has been published by TechCrunch and a CNBC Interview with Oura CEO Tom Hale hinted the company can use its IP portfolio against Samsung.
Samsung’s legal filings seek to paint Oura as a patent troll, arguing that many of the Finnish company’s patent disputes relate to features common to all categories of smart rings, such as electronics, sensors, batteries and health-tracking points. This approach brings back memories Samsung’s old patent disputes with Apple. A common thread in the decades-long courtroom battles has been Samsung’s accusations that the iPhone maker has bogus patents that should never have been issued because they used obvious technologies or techniques shared by the entire industry. (It has worked with mixed results in these cases.)
Samsung filed the new lawsuit against Our in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. Oura is based in Finland, but has a US wing of operations based in Delaware, including offices in San Francisco with over 50 employees.
The lawsuit reveals more details about Samsung’s Galaxy Ring showed itself in the rendering before in January to detect physical patterns at Mobile World Congress in February. The document states that Samsung only finalized the design of the Galaxy Ring in “mid-May 2024” and plans to go into mass production in mid-June.
It adds that the Galaxy Ring will arrive in the US “on or around August of this year,” which is in line with expectations that the company will unveil it at its summer Unpacked event.
