Oura sues rival smart ring company Circular for patent infringement - more active ↺
Oura has sued Circular, a rival smart ring brand, for infringing on two of its patents. The Circular wearable was demonstrated at CES 2022 and opened for pre-sale in February, with delivery expected later this year. Circular claims that its smart ring can track 142 metrics such as heart rate variability, breathing rate and body temperature.
The Oura smart ring has many similar features, such as sleep tracking and an accompanying app to report your health statistics. Oura currently dominates the smart ring market and recently announced that it had over one million users.
According to the filing, Oura has sued circular for infringing on patent 10,893,833 ('833), which describes the makeup of the wearable. This includes the materials used, electronics and a non-ceramic coating.
The second patent cited, 10,842,429 ('429), covers the data collection methods used by the device, such as LED sensors and an accelerometer. These sensors are used to detect rest or activity and measure other biosignals.
The document also reveals that a cease and desist letter was sent from Oura to Circular in January, after which the rival promised to review the patents. Oura claims that Circular failed to carry out this analysis.
It is unclear which company will win the lawsuit, as the patents cited appear to be wide-reaching. A statement from Circular explained that its goal "is to achieve innovation for the greater good and a monopoly situation has never driven innovation". In a comment to Engadget, a spokesperson for Oura said
At ŌURA, we embrace creativity and innovation in health technology, including from our competitors…However, what we cannot accept is direct copying, as this does nothing to help consumers or advance our industry."
