Earlier this week, it was reported that Strava filed a lawsuit against Garmin alleging patent infringement. On Thursday, Strava’s Chief Product Officer, Matt Salazar, took to Reddit to defend the company’s lawsuit, noting that Garmin had demanded their logo be displayed alongside data collected by Garmin devices. With over 1,200 comments as of press time, it’s clear that both Garmin and Strava customers feel like they are caught in the middle.
An update to Garmin brand guidelines
Garmin published updated brand guidelines for Application Programming Interface (API) users specifying that their brand name and/or logo be visible in third-party apps like Strava to indicate the type of device used to record the data. Strava and other online services connect to the Garmin API to get activity data recorded by Garmin devices.
The usage guidelines state that Garmin attribution must be placed “directly beneath or adjacent to the primary title or heading of the data view. The listing must be placed above the fold and always be visually associated with the data it supports, both in real-time views and exported visuals.”
According to Salazar’s Reddit post, “we have until November 1st to comply, and if not, Garmin has threatened to cut off access to their API, stopping all Garmin activities from being uploaded to Strava.” If that happens, Garmin users would need to export their data and upload each workout to Strava manually.
Regular Strava users have noted the app already lists the device the data was collected on, though that information is found only on the activity detail screen and is not located above the fold, ie, the visible portion of the screen before scrolling. Based on the new Garmin API Guidelines, Strava would need to place device information on multiple screens, including the activity feed.
“We believe you should be able to freely transfer or upload that data without requiring logos to be displayed alongside it or have that data be used as an advertisement to sell more watches,” Salazar wrote. As many commenters noted, the Strava app includes advertisements in the form of sponsored challenges and offers, and giving Garmin “free” advertising could make it harder for Strava to attract paying advertisers to its platform.
“Unfortunately, we could not justify to our users complying with the new guidelines,” Salazar wrote. “As such, we have tried to resolve this situation with Garmin over the course of the past five months, including proposing additional attribution across the platform in a less intrusive way, but to no avail.”
Heat map and fitness segment patent infringement alleged
According to information obtained by DC Rainmaker, Strava is suing Garmin over two patents, one involving heatmaps and the other covering activity segments. Garmin has included functions related to both features for many years, and it’s clear from Salazar’s post that the timing of the lawsuit is not coincidental.
Garmin has recently invested in expanding its Connect and Connect+ online services, placing the device maker in more direct competition with third-party software services like Strava. In addition to offering sponsored badges and competitions, Garmin Connect+ has a new Trails feature that could eventually compete with paid services like AllTrails and Trailforks.
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