Strava sues Garmin as decade-old grievances boil to the surface

What you need to know

• The case "Strava, Inc. v. Garmin Ltd" was filed on September 30 in the U.S. District Court in Colorado.
• Strava filed a 2011 patent for activity segments and a 2013 patent for heatmaps, and now claims that Garmin's Live Segments and heatmaps violate them.
• Strava and Garmin had a 2015 Master Cooperation Agreement to use Strava Live Segments on Garmin watches.
• Strava is demanding a "permanent injunction" on selling any Garmin watches with Strava technology due to "irreparable harm" to Strava's brand.

Strava has launched a legal battle against Garmin, one of its biggest partners, for "causing ongoing harm to Strava" by using its patented features "in ways that Strava has never authorized or licensed." And it's demanding that a U.S. District judge approve a permanent injunction to stop Garmin from selling watches with its technology.

The features in question, as detailed by DC Rainmaker's coverage of the lawsuit, are Strava Live Segments, heatmaps, and popularity routing.

Both Strava and Garmin Live Segments appear on high-end Garmin watches like the Fenix 8, Forerunner 970, and Venu X1, as well as its Edge bike computers, so athletes can see their mapped progress and race against other leaderboard times.

Garmin's Heatmap, meanwhile, is available to all Garmin watch owners through the Connect app, while Trendline Popularity routing is also restricted to its higher-end models. If this lawsuit succeeds, Strava's injunction would require Garmin to remove these features to continue selling its devices.

Strava clarified to DCR that its lawsuit isn't intended to "disrupt the ability of Garmin users to sync their data with Strava," so that shouldn't be going away. But this lawsuit is still an aggressive move for a brand that relies on fitness watch partners to provide it with data.

Garmin, meanwhile, has told Android Central that it "won't be commenting on pending litigation."

The Strava-Garmin fallout, explained

Strava first patented its live segments in 2011, after which Garmin launched its own Live Segments in 2014. According to Strava, Garmin and Strava then entered into a Master Cooperation Agreement (MCA) in 2015 to allow Strava Live Segments on Garmin watches, but not for Garmin to "adapt, reverse engineer, use, copy, modify, or distribute" Strava's features for its own Live Segments.

Now, Strava is claiming that Garmin "leveraged this access to carefully study those features, painstakingly copy them, and then release them as Garmin features," and that Garmin ignored Strava when "informally" asked to stop in June and July 2025.

Garmin Live Segments have remained visibly available since 2015, without any previous pushback from Strava. The 2025 launches of Garmin Connect Plus and Trails+ routes, however, put Garmin's app in closer competition with Strava's Athlete Intelligence AI, and Strava's new leadership may be less inclined to play nice with a direct rival to its monthly subscription service.

Garmin Live Segments have remained available since 2015, and we're curious if Garmin agrees that the MCA forbade them from continuing to expand the feature, or if it disputes the idea that it copied Strava. But we'll have to wait for Garmin's legal reply to learn more.

As for Strava's heatmaps, its patent was originally filed in December 2013 for tracking users' GPS workouts en masse to determine the most popular routes nearby. Night heatmaps are the most recent focus, with an emphasis on safety.

Strava asserts that Garmin's "Trendline/Popularity routing, heatmaps, Courses, and related features" infringe on its patent. DC Rainmaker claims, however, that Garmin first launched heatmaps back in early 2013, while other fitness brands like RaceShape had them in 2012.

Garmin may attempt to have Strava's heatmap patent disputed, given that its own service seemingly preceded the patent. But regardless, Strava is challenging Garmin's use of this patented feature after over a decade of letting their two heatmap features coexist.

What comes next?

Strava is gearing up to launch its IPO and was valued at $2.2 billion earlier this year. It's interesting timing to see the app open litigation against a popular smartwatch brand prior to going public.

Strava told DCR that "Garmin has been increasingly aggressive to its partners lately (perhaps due to competitive pressure) and Strava is standing up for the hard work our teams have put into building unique features."

In truth, both companies have been establishing more strict guidelines with their APIs, telling third-party partners how they're allowed to use their data. Strava's 2024 policy prevented other apps from displaying Strava data or using it for AI features.

Given Garmin's lack of comment, we'll have to wait and see whether it merely defends itself of Strava's claims or attempts to countersue Strava. Until it's resolved, Garmin watch owners and Strava users should be unaffected; in the long run, however, they could lose access to some popular features if this lawsuit is successful.