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Just a few months ago Oura won a lawsuit against rival smart ring makers Ultrahuman and RingConn. Now they have filed cases against four more companies – the creators Samsung Galaxy Ring, Reebok Smart Ring, Amazfit Helio ringAnd Ring of the Moon.
Oura announced on their website that they have filed an ITC complaint against these four companies. The ITC stands for the U.S. International Trade Commission, and Oura says her complaint concerns the “illegal importation and sale of products that infringe several of Oura's patents.”
Oura's previous victories over Ultrahuman and RingConn led to the decision that these companies should stop selling and importing their smart rings. RingConn eventually agreed with Oura license their patents and continue to sell their rings. Circular and Omate have entered into similar agreements with Oura.
superhuman no longer sells his ring in the USAbut is working on a new ring design that will avoid the alleged patent infringement. You can read Ultrahuman's take on the situation at this blog postwhich also includes a promise to continue to support the rings they have already sold or that people can buy from resellers.
The rings mentioned in the recent complaint should remain available for some time. Oura writes on her blog: “So what next? The ITC process will take its course.” There is no guarantee that Oura will win the case, although the fact that they were able to achieve such a drastic ruling against other companies suggests that it is not that unlikely.
While Oura's posts on this issue use phrases like “respect for intellectual property” (i.e., intellectual property), as a consumer and reviewer I hate to see an exciting technology field dominated by one player, or worse, shut down piecemeal by that player. I'm working on a review of the Luna ring, which I already noted earlier has some major potential improvements over other rings on the market. We hope the smart ring category remains alive and well in the future.
