Forward of a rumored IPO, Strava’s lawsuit accuses Garmin of overstepping a collaboration settlement associated to Strava’s “Segments” expertise. On social media, some customers are siding with Garmin
Strava has filed go well with towards Garmin in Colorado federal courtroom, accusing the wearable system maker of patent infringement and breach of a 2015 settlement that gave Garmin restricted rights to Strava’s in style section characteristic.
The lawsuit comes as Strava is in development mode. The social health platform has been increasing by means of acquisitions and lately hit a $2.2 billion valuation, based on Reuters, which additionally reported that Strava might pursue an IPO that could come as early as 2026.
The grievance, filed September 30 within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Colorado, alleges Garmin’s units and software program infringe on three Strava patents covering segment matching and popularity-based routing.
Strava additionally claims Garmin overstepped a Grasp Cooperation Settlement signed in 2015 that permitted Strava Segments to seem on Garmin units beneath strict situations. Segments, certainly one of Strava’s most recognizable options, are user-defined stretches of street or path the place athletes can log their occasions, examine efficiency towards others and monitor progress. Whereas anybody can see segments, Strava Premium subscribers acquire entry to deeper insights and leaderboards.
Based on the submitting, Garmin expanded its personal “Garmin segments” past what the settlement allowed and deployed routing and heatmap options that apply Strava’s patented expertise. Heatmaps are visualizations of exercise information that spotlight the preferred routes and trails.
The accused merchandise embody Garmin Join, Edge bike computer systems, and Forerunner, Fenix, and Epix watches. Strava says it first notified Garmin of the alleged infringement in June 2025 and once more in July. The go well with seeks a everlasting injunction blocking Garmin from promoting {hardware} or software program with the accused performance, together with damages and attorneys’ charges.
Whereas the grievance focuses on patents and a cooperation settlement, Strava’s public messaging has emphasised one thing totally different, based on a publish by Matt Salazar, Strava’s chief product officer, who took to Reddit’s r/Strava discussion board on Thursday to “set the report straight” in regards to the lawsuit and its timing.
Within the post, Salazar stated Garmin introduced new developer tips on July 1 that require the Garmin emblem to seem on “each single exercise publish, display, graph, picture, sharing card and so forth.”, and warned Strava it will reduce off API entry if the corporate didn’t comply by November 1.
Salazar wrote that Strava opposes the coverage for 2 causes. First, he stated it quantities to “blatant promoting” that degrades the person expertise, noting Strava already supplies attribution for each information associate whereas Garmin “doesn’t even present information attribution for third get together units” on Garmin Join. Second, he stated Strava views exercise recordsdata as user-owned information that “ought to have the ability to be freely transferred or uploaded with out requiring logos to be displayed alongside it or used as an commercial to promote extra watches.”
Based on the publish, Strava spent 5 months trying to resolve the dispute with Garmin, together with proposing “much less intrusive” attribution, however acknowledged that these efforts have been unsuccessful.
The publish on Reddit was met with sharply important responses, with essentially the most upvoted replies calling Strava’s stance hypocritical, pointing to its personal attribution and API modifications and saying a small Garmin emblem wouldn’t damage the expertise. Many commenters stated they use Strava primarily as a result of it syncs with Garmin and threatened to cancel subscriptions if that hyperlink breaks, whereas others argued they’d select Garmin over Strava if compelled.
Among the backlash went past criticism. A number of customers posted that that they had already canceled their Strava subscriptions, with related sentiment seen on the r/Garmin neighborhood.
Trade observers, most notably Ray Maker of DC Rainmaker, have described the lawsuit as sudden, even puzzling, given the context.
Garmin first launched its personal heatmaps in 2013 and segments in 2014 (earlier than Strava’s patents have been granted), and Garmin units have lengthy been the first means athletes add exercises to Strava, making the authorized struggle uncommon given the businesses’ historical past of integration. The dispute over heatmaps additionally comes with baggage: Strava’s World Heatmap has beforehand drawn scrutiny for unintentionally exposing delicate information, together with navy bases and even the houses of on a regular basis customers.
Garmin declined to remark for this story, stating it doesn’t touch upon pending litigation.
