Wearable wars? Ultrahuman takes Oura to the Delhi Excessive Court docket over alleged good ring patent infringement
Ultrahuman has filed a patent infringement motion within the Delhi Excessive Court docket towards Oura Well being Oy and Ouraring Inc., makers of the Oura good ring.
The India-based wearable well being expertise firm alleges that Oura’s newest system, the Oura Ring 4, infringes on a patent granted by the Indian Patent Workplace overlaying the Ultrahuman Ring AIR’s integration of sensors, building and onboard processing used to ship sleep stage monitoring and restoration insights.
The go well with comes on the heels of Ultrahuman’s acquisition of viO HealthTech and the launch of Cycle & Ovulation Pro.
“Threatened by Ultrahuman’s success, Oura has blatantly copied Ultrahuman’s superior mental property, together with ladies’s well being options, circadian well being instruments and glucose monitoring platform, thereby benefiting from Ultrahuman’s funding in public well being with out a license to take action,” Ultrahuman mentioned in a launch. “The motion taken as we speak underscores Ultrahuman’s dedication to defending its mental property and Indian innovation on the worldwide stage.”
Ultrahuman, which manufactures its good ring at a facility in Texas, has made subscription-free possession of well being knowledge a core a part of its technique. The corporate contrasted its method with rivals it accuses of replicating its breakthroughs solely to “lock them behind obligatory subscriptions,” a observe it calls “anti-innovation and anti-consumer.”
“We’ve been deeply targeted on serving to folks do extra with their well being knowledge by constructing cutting-edge, non-paywalled options,” an Ultrahuman spokesperson mentioned.
Responding to Ultrahuman’s Delhi Excessive Court docket case, Oura mentioned the go well with was an try to distract from its loss within the U.S., when Oura had secured a ultimate willpower from the U.S. Worldwide Commerce Fee, with the Administrative Regulation Choose discovering that Ultrahuman and one other competitor, RingConn, infringed Oura’s mental property associated to the Oura Ring kind issue.
“Ultrahuman’s lawsuit in India has no advantage and is a blatant try to distract from their decisive U.S. defeat,” a spokesperson for Oura instructed Athletech Information in an e-mail. “The Worldwide Commerce Fee dominated unequivocally that Ultrahuman infringed on Oura’s mental property, blocking all of their good rings—and elements—from the U.S. market by way of exclusion and cease-and-desist orders. This ruling validates not solely the energy of Oura’s patents, but in addition our long-term IP technique. We’ve now established, on the most rigorous ranges of overview, that Oura’s patents are legitimate and enforceable—precedent that may form the way forward for this class. The info are clear: Oura innovates, Ultrahuman imitates.”
Editor’s observe: This text has been up to date to incorporate a response from Oura and to replicate the ITC’s ultimate ruling.
