While Oura has been around the block and is already on itsthird generation of smart ring, its rivals have been making some questionable moves. Last year, Oura dragged fledgling rival Circular into apatent warover ring design and biometric data collection. And now, the Finnish ring maker is throwing another legal punch at another startup, Ultrahuman, for allegedly copying its products and stealing its secrets.
The lawsuit was filed in a district court in Texas back in September, when the Bengaluru-based startup was accused of copying Oura’s technology instead of coming up with its own ideas (viaTNW). Ultrahuman, it seems, took the shortcut of acquiring Oura’s secrets through former Oura employees and investors, thefiling shows.
Ultrahuman was founded back in 2019 by Mohit Kumar and Vatsal Singhal with the goal of creating various health-tracking gadgets, includingfitness rings. In June of this year, the company unveiled theUltrahuman Ring Air, an upgraded version of its fitness wearable that offers enhanced sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and body temperature monitoring. Ultrahuman also offers a subscription-based fitness platform that provides in-depth analysis of the data collected by its devices, along with a range of workout content to help you stay active.
Oura claims that Ultrahuman’s smart ring is a knockoff of its own, down to its look, feel, and features. The company says that Ultrahuman’s copying ways don’t stop there, and that it has also been poaching Oura employees, trying to lure away current Oura engineers, and may have gotten its hands on Oura’s secret sauce through some of its investors before introducing the Ultrahuman Ring.
According to the filing, while Ultrahuman may seem like an innovative startup, there’s more to the story. Turns out, Ultrahuman is partly funded by a sovereign wealth fund and has an investor who supposedly gained access to Oura’s confidential information back in December 2021. This investor, it seems, may have passed on Oura’s secrets to Ultrahuman.
Oura’s also calling out the Indian startup for copying some key features. First off, Ultrahuman allegedly took a page from Oura’s materials playbook, including the use of titanium in the device. And that’s not all; Oura’s pointing fingers at the skin and PPG sensors too. These sensors are the ones that keep tabs on your biomarkers, and according to Oura, Ultrahuman is rocking a suspiciously similar setup.
The legal battle between Oura and Ultrahuman is just getting started. While its previous lawsuit is still in progress, Oura is demanding a hefty sum in damages from Ultrahuman in this latest case. How much? Well, that’s the big question mark, and the company is saving that juicy tidbit for the trial. This might just be the opening act of a lengthy battle in the smart ring industry.
