Ultrahuman Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Oura In India

Wearable wars? Ultrahuman takes Oura to the Delhi High Court over alleged smart ring patent infringement

Ultrahuman has filed a patent infringement action in the Delhi High Court against Oura Health Oy and Ouraring Inc., makers of the Oura smart ring.

The India-based wearable health technology company alleges that Oura’s latest device, the Oura Ring 4, infringes on a patent granted by the Indian Patent Office covering the Ultrahuman Ring AIR’s integration of sensors, construction and onboard processing used to deliver sleep stage tracking and recovery insights.

The suit comes on the heels of Ultrahuman’s acquisition of viO HealthTech and the launch of Cycle & Ovulation Pro.

“Threatened by Ultrahuman’s success, Oura has blatantly copied Ultrahuman’s advanced intellectual property, including women’s health features, circadian health tools and glucose monitoring platform, thereby benefiting from Ultrahuman’s investment in public health without a license to do so,” Ultrahuman said in a release. “The action taken today underscores Ultrahuman’s commitment to defending its intellectual property and Indian innovation on the global stage.”  

Ultrahuman, which manufactures its smart ring at a facility in Texas, has made subscription-free ownership of health data a core part of its strategy. The company contrasted its approach with competitors it accuses of replicating its breakthroughs only to “lock them behind mandatory subscriptions,” a practice it calls “anti-innovation and anti-consumer.”

“We’ve been deeply focused on helping people do more with their health data by building cutting-edge, non-paywalled features,” an Ultrahuman spokesperson said.

Responding to Ultrahuman’s Delhi High Court case, Oura said the suit was an attempt to distract from its loss in the U.S., when Oura had secured a favorable initial determination from the U.S. International Trade Commission, with the Administrative Law Judge finding that Ultrahuman and another competitor, RingConn, infringed Oura’s asserted patent claims.

“Ultrahuman’s lawsuit in India has no merit and is a blatant attempt to distract from their decisive U.S. defeat,” a spokesperson for Oura told Athletech News in an email. “The International Trade Commission ruled unequivocally that Ultrahuman infringed on Oura’s intellectual property, blocking all of their smart rings—and components—from the U.S. market through exclusion and cease-and-desist orders. This ruling validates not only the strength of Oura’s patents, but also our long-term IP strategy. We’ve now established, at the most rigorous levels of review, that Oura’s patents are valid and enforceable—precedent that will shape the future of this category. The facts are clear: Oura innovates, Ultrahuman imitates.”

The initial determination is subject to review by the full Commission in the coming months, Oura noted on its blog in April, adding that it’s optimistic that the Commission “will make a similar determination” that its “inventions and patents are being infringed upon by foreign competitors.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a response from Oura.

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