Samsung has filed a lawsuit<\/a> against Oura<\/a> to try to head off intellectual property disputes as the Galaxy Ring launch<\/a> draws near. The suit notes that Oura has used its patent portfolio to sue smaller wearable tech competitors and has hinted it may do the same against the much larger Samsung. Welcome to the weird modern world of mega-corporations suing startups to prevent them from filing suits of their own.<\/p>\n \u201cOura\u2019s actions and public statements demonstrate that Oura will continue asserting patent infringement against other entrants into the U.S. smart ring market, including Samsung,\u201d the lawsuit, first reported on<\/a> by The Verge<\/em>, reads. \u201cOura\u2019s immediate response to the announcement of the Galaxy Ring was to point to the purported strength of its intellectual property portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit claims the Galaxy Ring<\/a> doesn\u2019t infringe on Oura\u2019s patents. However, in justifying its suit, it lays out a pattern of what it frames as aggressive IP protection by the Finnish startup. It lists cases where Oura sued smaller competitors like Ultrahuman, Circular and RingConn \u201cas soon as, or even before, they entered the U.S. market.\u201d<\/p>\n The document also cites Oura embarking on a media tour immediately following the Galaxy Ring announcement, touting the company\u2019s \u201cover 150 patents.\u201d It specifically calls out patent-related quotes published<\/a> by TechCrunch<\/em> and a CNBC<\/em> interview where Oura CEO Tom Hale hinted<\/a> the company may use its IP portfolio against Samsung.<\/p>\n Samsung\u2019s legal filing essentially tries to paint Oura as a patent troll, claiming many of the Finnish company\u2019s patent disputes have been for features common to the entire category of smart rings, like electronics, sensors, a battery and scores that weigh health metrics. That approach conjures memories of Samsung\u2019s old patent disputes with Apple<\/a>. A common theme in those decade-old courtroom battles was Samsung accusing the iPhone maker of holding bogus patents that should never have been granted because they used obvious technologies or methods shared by the entire industry. (It worked with mixed results in those cases.)<\/p>\n Samsung filed its new lawsuit against Oura in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. Oura is based in Finland but has a US wing of its operations based in Delaware, including offices in San Francisco with more than 50 employees.<\/p>\n The lawsuit reveals extra detail about Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Ring, which the company first showed off in a render<\/a> in January before revealing physical models<\/a> at the Mobile World Congress in February. The document says Samsung only finalized the Galaxy Ring\u2019s design in \u201cmid-May 2024\u201d and plans to enter mass production in mid-June.<\/p>\n It adds that the Galaxy Ring will arrive in the US \u201cin or around August of this year,\u201d which aligns with expectations that the company will launch it at a summer Unpacked event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n