Strava Sued Garmin. Should We Be Worried? (I Don't Think So)

[Stefan Mikes]

A good analysis of the latest case as discussed by DC Rainmaker:

DC Rainmaker has brought many good points, two of them being very important:

• It is one thing to get a patent but it is very difficult to defend that patent;
• You do not poke an 800 lb bear (Garmin) without a good reason.

Should we be worried? I don't think so. The whole case might only backfire on Strava. It is not wise to antagonise the cycling community! The Strava demand to take down Garmin devices from the use is just ridiculous. While a huge number of riders need Garmin devices, the Strava subscription is only needed by very advanced riders, and there are numerous training applications that can easily replace Strava. That is, Strava is a great social network but the subscription is nothing for most of us.

For one, I'm cancelling my Strava subscription with a clear reason why I'm doing that. I even don't own a Garmin device (and don't like Garmin) but what Strava is doing now is a sheer stupidity!

 

[Chargeride]

There has been a disturbance in the force.

 

[zbikeman]

It's not just Strava suing Garmin. Suunto is suing them as well:

Strava and Suunto each sue Garmin over patent infringement claims

DENVER (BRAIN) — Strava and Suunto are each suing Garmin for patent infringement.Strava is suing the GPS brand in a Colorado court, saying Garmin's segments and leaderboards features violate a patent licensing agreement the two companies reached in 2015.Suunto, a Finnish company that sells...

bicycleretailer.com

 

[jabberwocky]

Good reminder to download your Strava data regularly!

Strava has been steadily rolling down the enshittification/user hostile path for a while now. Not that Garmin is particularly benevolent either, but Strava has been really aggressive with killing useful third party services and moving historically-free features behind their paywall. It does seem like Garmin has the cards here though. Strava is completely reliant on user data, a large chunk of which comes through Garmin devices. Garmin isn't as reliant on Strava (they have their own service, Connect, which isn't as widely used as Strava but is used by everyone with a Garmin device).

As Ray noted, heatmaps have existed since before Strava did them. I have some personal maps generated in 2011-2012 using third party sites that read Strava data.

Kinda stupid IMO. I have no particular love for either company despite using both, but if push came to shove I'd ditch Strava and go to RidewithGPS or just use Connect. A fair number of riding friends have already moved off Strava after they killed the 3rd party API a few years back (which made syncing training date much more difficult if using third party training services, which many do).

 

[Chargeride]

Im suing them for getting my mates addicted to medals.

 

[jabberwocky]

Im suing them for getting my mates addicted to medals.

The REAL crime worth suing over.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Im suing them for getting my mates addicted to medals.

I still hold the E-Bike Course Record/King Of Mountain on the #33 in the Bolimów Forest

Leśna cyklostrada bolimowska (e-bike) | Strava E-Bike Segment in Franciszków, Poland

www.strava.com

It was a fabulous ride with a gravel cycling club

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Im suing them for getting my mates addicted to medals.

Yeah, and all those incessant, totally meaningless atta boys. If I go 5 ft on my bike, I get a "Way to go, Jeremy! Keep it up!" Feels like being in pre-school.

And they harass me to upgrade to the paid version every single time I click something. Never even look at Strava anymore.

Thanks for reminding me to cancel it.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It is all because you are new to Strava and inexperienced, Jeremy It never happens to me, a seasoned Strava user.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

It is all because you are new to Strava and inexperienced, Jeremy It never happens to me, a seasoned Strava user.

If there's a way to get rid of all the cheerleading and nagging besides paying, I'm all ears.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If there's a way to get rid of all the cheerleading and nagging besides paying, I'm all ears.

Just using it

My friend Tommy was recording all his cycling activities using free Strava App since 2015, and he only used a smartphone (he doesn't own a computer). As you are consistently using Strava, there is less and less nagging, and eventually Strava becomes clean. Now, Tommy is using a Garmin I sold him but all his rides are uploaded to Strava.

It was the year atherosclerosis hit my leg.

 

[Chargeride]

When youre sat in a van of grown men all scrolling their achievments on Strava while ignoring the fantastic Welsh countryside outside, I understand it can be banter but I dont understand why everything has to be a competition.
I guess its our evolution and it has pushed us to achieve civilisation.
Yeah, yeah I'm a hippy loser

My mother always laughs at school sports day egg and spoon race, I was picking everyones eggs up for them

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Cut the crap, Chris.

Go for a ride

You wouldn't even believe how motivating Strava is

 

[Chargeride]

AI Overview

There's no publicly available information confirming the specific number or presence of Polish people working at Strava, as employee demographics are not typically disclosed publicly.

I'l find you.

 

[jabberwocky]

Per DCrainmaker, Strava dropped their lawsuit.

Strava Voluntarily Drops Lawsuit Against Garmin

Strava’s multifaceted legal (and social media) attack on Garmin was short-lived. Just 21 days after filing the original patent infringement case, alongside a Reddit post from their executive team attacking Garmin, the company has decided to dismiss the case

www.dcrainmaker.com

I tend to agree with his analysis (some executive thought they could throw a bit of weight around and that Garmin would give in, and quickly realized that they picked a fight that was going to go poorly no matter what against a company that has an excellent track record of winning these fights).

So yeah, Strava likely pissed off their largest historical partner and gained nothing from it. Totally fits with Stravas management over the past few years.

 

[stompandgo]

You don't sue your main source of revenue. What buffoons.

Komoot will benefit greatly. Garmin development, especially feature development, is excruciatingly slow. Guess who will get those features first?