Now Whoop sues Polar over fitness tracker design
Whoop is taking Polar to court, saying they copied the look of its fabric-style fitness band. The lawsuit was filed in New York on October 14, right as Garmin is facing two separate legal challenges from Strava and Suunto. The wearable world is getting litigious.
Whoop says Polar copied its tracker look
According to documents we could find, the lawsuit accuses Polar of infringing on Whoop’s trade dress by releasing a fitness band that looks too similar to its own. Specifically, Whoop points to the use of a continuous fabric band stretched over the sensor, a front-facing design with no display, along with metallic trim details.
No prizes awarded for guessing which device this is. Polar has just released the Loop fitness band. Whoop argues the visual features this device carries have become strongly associated with its brand and are not essential for function.
That distinction matters. Under U.S. law, trade dress protections only apply to non-functional design elements that help identify a product’s origin. If the court agrees that the look of Whoop’s tracker is both distinctive and non-essential, it could be granted legal protection similar to a trademark.
We don’t have access to the actual court documents in detail. So don’t know for sure which devices are in question. But here are the images of Polar Loop and Whoop. There’s more than a passing resemblance between the two.
Whoop is asking for damages and an injunction to block Polar from continuing to sell the design. The case has been brought under the Lanham Act, the same federal law that handles trademark and unfair competition cases. The company has also demanded a jury trial.
Wearable lawsuits are stacking up fast
This lawsuit comes just weeks after two other high-profile disputes involving Garmin. One is with Strava and focuses on how logos and branding are displayed inside Garmin’s Connect app and devices. The other involves Suunto, which claims Garmin copied parts of its smartwatch interface design.
All three cases show that the wearable tech space is becoming more aggressive. As devices start to look and behave more alike, companies are becoming less tolerant of anything that resembles their own designs or UI layouts. Legal pressure is becoming a tool in brand protection strategies.
This has been going on for a while in the smart ring space with Oura suing other companies. Now its spreading to the smartwatch world.
What the court will focus on
The legal focus in this case will likely come down to whether Whoop’s design is truly unique and whether Polar’s band is similar enough to cause confusion among buyers. Whoop will also have to prove that its product has acquired what’s known as secondary meaning, meaning that people recognize the design as representing the brand.
Polar, on the other hand, might argue that the design is functional, common across the industry or not distinctive enough to be protected. If the court sees it as a basic wearable design with practical purposes, the case may not go very far.
The filing was made in New York’s Eastern District, where both Whoop is listed as the plaintif. The single named defendant is Polar Electro Oy, the parent company based in Finland. The official nature of the suit is listed as “Trademark” with a cause of action under 15 U.S.C. § 1125, which governs trade dress and unfair competition.
As of now, the case is open and waiting for the next steps.
This article originally appeared on Gadgets & Wearables, where it was first reported.
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