Oura sues Ultrahuman again, targeting the redesigned Ring Pro

The smart-ring patent war has a new round. Oura has filed a fresh lawsuit against Indian rival Ultrahuman, this time aimed at the redesigned Ring Pro that brought Ultrahuman back to the US market earlier this year, TechCrunch reports. Oura confirmed the filing on its own blog.

What Oura is claiming

The complaint was filed on Thursday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Oura says the Ring Pro infringes two patents:

• D804,471, a design patent covering the look of the ring;
• 12,769,363, a utility patent for a smart-ring design with internal parts such as a curved battery, circuit board, magnets and sensors. It was granted to Oura on 20 October, just two days before the suit.

Oura is seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction that would stop US sales. It also named SVTronics, a Texas electronics maker that the complaint says builds the Ring Pro at a plant in Plano under Ultrahuman's direction.

How we got here

The two companies have been in court since 2023. A US International Trade Commission ruling in Oura's favour last August led to an import ban on the Ring Air. Ultrahuman answered with the redesigned Ring Pro in February, and in March US Customs and Border Protection ruled that it could be imported. Oura's argument now is that Customs only looked at the patent from the earlier case, not these two.

"Ultrahuman has a history of copying Oura's innovations," an Oura spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Ultrahuman's response

Ultrahuman CEO Mohit Kumar told TechCrunch the company would "defend our position vigorously", pointing out that one patent was issued only two days before the filing. He added: "There is no court order affecting Ring Pro, and it remains available to customers in the U.S."

Oura has also pursued Samsung, RingConn, Circular and Zepp Health over smart-ring patents; RingConn and Circular settled by agreeing to pay royalties.

Weighing a ring against a watch? Our guide to fitness trackers vs smartwatches covers the trade-offs, and we also covered Google's latest wearable, the Fitbit Edge.