While filing a pre-emptive lawsuit against Oura to block patent claims, Samsung accidentally revealed the upcoming Galaxy Ring’s launch window.
We knew that the Galaxy Ring would be launching soon. However, the confirmation of its launch window has come from the most unlikely place.
Samsung has sued its competitor Oura Health, the makers of Oura Ring, to protect its upcoming wearable Galaxy Ring from getting embroiled in a possible legal battle around patents. While doing so, Samsung confirmed that the Galaxy Ring will start selling in the US “in or around August.”
With the lawsuit, Samsung seeks a “declaratory judgment” stating that the Galaxy Ring doesn’t infringe on Oura’s patents. It also highlights Oura’s record of suing competitors for “features common to virtually all smart rings” and alleges that the company sued rivals like Ultrahuman, Circular, and RingConn.
Samsung alleges that Oura uses filing patent lawsuits as a “strategy of asserting infringement against all entrants in the smart ring market” and feels that any such suit could be an “imminent risk to Samsung and the sale of its Galaxy Ring product.”
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Oura Health, which launched its first smart ring in 2015, holds several patents for technologies used in smart rings. In an interview with CNBC, Oura’s CEO Ton Hale said they will monitor the development around Galaxy Ring closely and “take the appropriate action.”
Samsung feels that five Oura patents may cause a problem. These patents are for fundamental features on smart rings, including a battery in a ring, a cumulative score of users’ performance in fitness goals, and other health vitals.
In the lawsuit, Samsung has also supplied screenshots of its Health app showing an “Energy Score” calculated based on sleep, activity, heart rate, and heart rate variability. Moreover, it also reveals that the hardware design of the Galaxy Ring was finalized in mid-May, and it is scheduled to begin mass production in mid-June.
