According to Samsung’s suit, Oura’s CEO sent the blog TechCrunch a statement on the day of Samsung’s first Galaxy Ring announcement that read: “Oura has the strongest [intellectual property] portfolio — in both hardware and software — for the smart ring form factor, with 100 granted patents, 270 pending patent applications and 130+ registered trademarks.” The suit said that a week later Hale appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and told host Andrew Ross Sorkin that, “We’ll see whether or not [the Galaxy Ring] infringes on [Oura’s technology]. And frankly, we’ll take the action that’s appropriate.”
Samsung, however, is saying that its ring does not infringe a handful of Oura patents, which Oura has already leveled in cases against other companies. The one that has moved furthest along is a dispute at the U.S. International Trade Commission that targeted a number of companies that are not Samsung, like Circular, a French maker of electronic rings, and RingConn, a Chinese company that also makes rings.
