Oura sues Ultrahuman again to block Ring Pro US sales

Ultrahuman redesigned the Ring Pro to get back into the United States, but Oura is already trying to shut the door again with a fresh patent lawsuit.

Oura announced on October 23 that it has filed a new complaint against Ultrahuman in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The company is seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction that could stop Ultrahuman from selling the Ring Pro in the US.

The Ring Pro redesign did not end the patent fight

Ultrahuman’s new ring was built against a pretty awkward backdrop. Oura won an earlier case at the US International Trade Commission, leading to an import and sales ban on the Ring Air and forcing Ultrahuman to come up with a different design.

The Ring Pro was the answer. When Ultrahuman made it official in February, the company introduced redesigned internals, longer battery life and a new charging case, although the US was missing from the initial launch.

That redesign initially appeared to work. US Customs and Border Protection cleared the Ring Pro in March, allowing Ultrahuman to return to the market with a model that authorities considered outside the scope of the earlier exclusion order. We covered that development when the Ring Pro started moving towards its US return.

The important detail is that the Customs decision only addressed the patent involved in that earlier dispute. Oura’s latest complaint relies on two different patents, giving it another route to challenge the Ring Pro even after the redesign received clearance.

One is US design patent D804,471, which covers the ornamental design of a wearable computing device. The other is US patent 12,769,363, a newly issued utility patent describing a wearable ring with a curved battery, circuit board, charging magnets and optical, temperature and movement sensors. 

That second patent was issued on October 20, just two days before Oura filed its complaint. The timing makes it an unusually fresh addition to the dispute, although the issue of a patent does not by itself prove that Ultrahuman has infringed it.

Oura wants the Ring Pro off the US market

The complaint also names SVTronics, the Texas company that allegedly manufactures the Ring Pro at its facility in Plano. Oura claims Ultrahuman and SVTronics infringe its patents through the manufacture, importation and sale of the ring.

Ultrahuman is not backing away. CEO Mohit Kumar told TechCrunch that the company would defend its position and stressed that there is currently no court order affecting the Ring Pro. 

Oura has already shown that it is willing to use licensing agreements as well as court action. RingConn reached a multi-year deal with Oura that allowed it to continue selling its rings, while Ultrahuman has so far chosen to keep fighting.

For buyers, nothing changes today. The Ring Pro remains on sale, and there is no current court order preventing Ultrahuman from selling it. The longer-term picture is less settled.