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Samsung A lawsuit was filed As the launch of the Galaxy Ring nears, Oura has filed a lawsuit to try to avoid an intellectual property dispute. The lawsuit claims that Oura has been using its patent portfolio to sue smaller competitors in wearable tech, and has hinted at the possibility of doing the same against the much larger Samsung. Welcome to the strange modern world of giant corporations suing upstarts to avoid getting sued themselves.
“Oura’s actions and public statements indicate that it will continue to assert patent infringement claims against other entrants in the U.S. smart ring market, including Samsung,” the lawsuit first stated. Reported by The Verge“Oura’s immediate response to the Galaxy Ring announcement was to point out the strength of its intellectual property portfolio.”
The lawsuit claims that the Galaxy Ring doesn’t infringe on Aura’s patents, but lists a pattern of allegedly aggressive intellectual property protection by the Finnish startup in justifying the lawsuit: It lists instances in which Aura sued smaller competitors, including Ultrahuman, Circular, and Ring-Con, “as soon as, or even before, they entered the U.S. market.”
The document also notes that Oura embarked on a media tour shortly after the Galaxy Ring announcement, touting the company’s “150+ patents,” specifically citing patent-related citations. Published by TechCrunch and CNBC Interview with Oura CEO Tom Hale hinted The company could potentially leverage its IP portfolio against Samsung.
Samsung’s lawsuit essentially tries to portray Oura as a patent troll, arguing that many of the Finnish company’s patent disputes concern features common to the entire smart ring category, such as electronics, sensors, batteries, and scores that evaluate health metrics. This approach is reminiscent of Samsung’s old patent disputes with Apple; a common theme in those court battles a decade ago was Samsung accusing the iPhone maker of holding bogus patents that should never have been granted because they used obvious technologies and methods shared across the industry (those cases had mixed results).
Samsung filed the new lawsuit against Oura in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. Oura is based in Finland but its U.S. operations are based in Delaware, and it also has an office in San Francisco with more than 50 employees.
The lawsuit reveals more details about the Galaxy Ring, which Samsung first showed in renderings in January and then unveiled a physical model at Mobile World Congress in February. According to the document, Samsung plans to finalize the design of the Galaxy Ring in “mid-May 2024,” with mass production to begin in mid-June.
The company adds that the Galaxy Ring will arrive in the US “around August of this year,” which is in line with expectations that the company will announce it at its Unpacked event in the summer.