Suunto joins Strava in filing lawsuit against Garmin

Garmin’s got another lawsuit on its hands. This time it’s Suunto, taking them to court in Texas over some key smartwatch features.

The timing is hard to ignore. Just days earlier, Strava lodged its own lawsuit in Colorado, accusing Garmin of copying key features like Segments and heatmaps. Both cases target core parts of Garmin’s platform and product lineup, and together they raise the stakes for what could become a drawn-out legal battle.

The patents at the heart of Suunto’s lawsuit

The 56-page complaint, filed on September 22nd in the Eastern District of Texas, focuses on five Suunto-owned patents: U.S. Patent No. 7,489,241, U.S. Patent No. 8,021,306, U.S. Patent No. 11,018,432, U.S. Patent No. 7,271,774 and U.S. Patent No. 10,734,731. These cover automatic golf swing detection, low-power respiratory tracking using heart rate data, along with structural antenna designs that allow wireless communication in metal-bodied watches.

According to Suunto, Garmin has used these patented technologies without permission across a wide range of devices. That includes models like the Fenix 5 through 8, the Epix series, most Approach golf watches, and even accessories like the CT10 golf sensors. The complaint also names lifestyle and performance lines such as Forerunner, Instinct, MARQ and Venu. So it’s pretty much most of Garmin’s lineup.

Suunto says these features, such as Garmin’s AutoShot and HRV-derived respiration tracking – directly infringe their IP. The complaint includes detailed technical claim charts, references Garmin’s own user manuals as evidence, and outlines how each product allegedly incorporates the disputed technology.

What Suunto wants from the court

Suunto is asking for monetary damages and a permanent injunction that would stop Garmin from selling any product that includes the contested features. If granted, this could impact a large chunk of Garmin’s current watch lineup.

The case has been assigned to Judge Rodney Gilstrap, who often presides over patent cases in the Eastern District of Texas. Garmin has until late December to respond, following a formal waiver of service signed on September 30th.

The broader picture

These two lawsuits put Garmin in a tricky spot. Suunto is coming after the hardware side, while Strava is focused on software and data. Both are reacting to Garmin stepping into territory they see as theirs. Whether justified or not, that is for the courts to decide.

Garmin keeps building features that overlap with what others offer. That’s now starting to turn into direct legal conflicts. Whether this is really about patent infringements or something else, remains to be seen.

Strava, for example, has an upcoming IPO. Suunto, now owned by China’s Liesheng Group, may be looking to assert its value post-acquisition by enforcing its patent portfolio more aggressively. Filing in the Eastern District of Texas, a court known for favouring patent holders, suggests they’ve picked their battleground carefully.

Whether this gets sorted in court or behind the scenes, Garmin is not just defending a few features. It is defending how it wants to operate going forward.

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