Subj : Strava just sued Garmin, heres what that means for the best Garmi To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Fri Oct 03 2025 17:00:09 Strava just sued Garmin, heres what that means for the best Garmin watches Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2025 15:44:47 +0000 Description: Strava is suing Garmin for patent infringement which could lead to devices being banned from sale. FULL STORY ======================================================================Strava is suing Garmin for patent infringement It claims Garmin's segments and heatmaps features go against its patents Strava is looking to block the sale of Garmin's infringing tech (which is a lot of devices inclduing smartwatches and bike computers) Strava and Garmin look set to enter into a legal battle that could see your smart watch lose some training features, or even seriously impact the availability of the best Garmin watches , the company's other hardware, and its Connect platform. So whats happening? Well, Strava is suing Garmin in the US because it alleges the fitness hardware brand infringed on Stravas patents, and breached a master cooperation agreement the duo reached back in 2015 (spotted by DC Rainmaker ). The patents relate to Stravas segments and heatmaps features which let runners and cyclists can compare performance across sections of routes, and see routes that are particularly popular with other athletes respectively. Garmin and Strava both offer variations of these features, but Strava argues Garmins versions are in violation of their cooperation agreement. As such, Strava is not only seeking financial damages, it has also requested an injunction to stop Garmin selling products that support these features which includes essentially all of its best fitness trackers , bike computers, and the Connect fitness platform. So you might want to wait and see how the dispute develops before buying that new Garmin smart watch youve been eying up. Strava's heatmap (Image credit: Strava) What will happen next? At the time of writing were still at the early stages of this lawsuit. That means no devices or features are affected yet and the duo may come to some agreement before their disagreement reaches a court room. However, in a statement to The Verge Strava claims Garmin rejected Stravas repeated attempts to address Garmins infringement informally, forcing Strava to take a stand on the matter and file suit, suggesting their disagreement may stretch on. If devices are banned theres a chance they wont be gone for good. Instead it may look like what happened with the Apple Watch after it was involved in a patent lawsuit related to blood oxygen sensors. In this case, Apple was able to patch the feature out via a software update and keep selling its devices. (Image credit: Garmin) If a judge does make a decision in Stravas favor with regards to a sale ban, this could be the route Garmin takes to keep offering its hardware, and possibly a trimmed-down version of Garmin Connect. That said, the dispute looks far from cut and dried. Garmins heatmap feature dates back to 2013, predating the 2014 and 2016 patents Strava mentions in its lawsuit. As for the segments feature, Garmins debuted in 2013, which is after Strava filed a patent in 2011 . So well have to watch and see what happens in this case, and if it does progress we might not see a final verdict for years with litigation and appeals as things develop well be sure to keep you updated. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. You might also like I tried Strava sniping and I ended up trying to topple Usain Bolts world record I just tested the Apple Watch Ultra 3's heart rate tracking against a Polar H10 chest strap here are the results 5 reasons to buy the new Garmin Venu 4 instead of an Apple Watch Series 11 ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/smartwatches/strava-just-sued-garmin- heres-what-that-means-for-the-best-garmin-watches --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .