Samsung fails to break Oura’s smart ring patent in legal face-off
The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board has handed Oura a significant victory yesterday, by upholding the validity of its core smart ring hardware patent against a challenge from Samsung. This decision leaves Samsung with fewer options to invalidate the intellectual property that underpins the fundamental structure of modern smart rings. It also gives Oura far more leverage as legal threats loom over the Galaxy Ring.
Most of the patent survives intact
At the center of this fight is U.S. Patent No. 11,868,178. It lays out how to cram a battery, flexible circuit board, and sensors into a circular ring without making it too bulky. Samsung had hoped to knock out 18 claims in this patent, arguing that earlier inventions already covered the concept.
That argument didn’t land in the courtroom. On November 25, 2025, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled that Samsung failed to prove most of the claims were unpatentable. Specifically, claims 1 through 10 and 12 through 16 survived. These are the ones that describe the basic structure smart rings rely on today.
Samsung did have some success with the tail end of the document. The Board agreed that claims 17 and 18 should be thrown out. These referred to the battery cavity but were formatted incorrectly. It’s a minor technical win for Samsung, but it does little to dent the core protection Oura still holds.
The legal strategy misfired
Samsung went heavy on prior art, leaning on earlier patents from Schröder and Niwa. The idea was to show that combining elements from those filings would naturally lead to the Oura Ring design. That would make Oura’s patent obvious, and therefore invalid.
The judges didn’t buy it. Samsung’s expert submitted diagrams with annotated components, but these ended up backfiring. At one point he mislabeled the housing structure, confusing internal and external parts. That mistake cast doubt on his whole analysis.
The Board also took issue with Samsung’s shifting narrative. They pointed out that the company relied on one interpretation of Schröder early on, then changed course in later filings. That sort of flip-flopping rarely sits well in IP disputes, and the Board made it clear they weren’t persuaded.
What it means for the Galaxy Ring
Samsung had a plan: kill the patent before getting dragged into a trial. That plan is now mostly dead. Oura holds a patent the Board just confirmed is valid in the US, and they can take that directly into court.
Samsung is already selling the Galaxy Ring. That leaves them exposed. Oura can now push for licensing payments, or even try to block sales if the dispute escalates. Injunctions are tough to get, but the threat alone gives Oura serious leverage.
The broader problem for Samsung is that the patent covers a structure that’s hard to avoid. Most smart rings need to follow a similar internal layout just to function. Unless Samsung has come up with a completely different hardware approach, they may find themselves in a corner.
Ripple effect for the rest of the market
This outcome doesn’t just hit Samsung. It sends a clear message to others in the space. Oura is not bluffing when it comes to legal enforcement. In fact they just launched fresh lawsuits against Zepp Health, Reebok and Noise. We could now see Samsung added to this list.
If Samsung couldn’t dismantle the patent with its team of experts and deep legal budget, smaller competitors will have an even harder time. Oura can now claim that its design has survived formal scrutiny. That could push rivals to rethink their internals or prepare for licensing talks.
The reality is that there’s not much space inside a ring. The “sandwich” design Oura patented – battery, board, sensors stacked in layers – is compact and efficient. That’s why others use it. But now that structure sits behind a legal barrier.
Oura’s hardware isn’t just protected by design. It’s protected by law. At least in the US. And with this decision in hand, they’re more likely to enforce that protection aggressively.
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