- Strava has commented on its current dispute with Garmin
- While it cannot comment on the legal dispute, Strava provided a statement to TechRadar.
- The statement all but confirms that it will capitulate to some of Garmin’s demands, despite stating “we do not agree.”
Strava broke its silence on its current dispute with Garmin and offered a statement to TechRadar after I reached out for comment. Strava said that “while we do not agree” with Garmin’s terms, it will change how it attributes data from its partners, outlining its next steps.
What is happening?
For those who don’t know, Strava filed a lawsuit against Garmin, citing its infringement of patents regarding segments and heat maps, asking it to temporarily stop the sale of the best Garmin watches.
Strava product manager Matt Salazar later posted on Reddit, stating that he was “setting the record straight on Garmin,” but referring to an entirely different issue, in which Garmin wants expanded attribution (including a logo) when a Strava user uploads data from a Garmin watch. This is scheduled to come into effect on November 1.
In the Reddit post, Salazar accused Garmin of using “Strava and all other partners as an advertising platform; they told us they care more about their marketing than their user experience.” Strava said “we consider this YOUR data” and asked users to make their voices heard.
Unfortunately, this backfired, as the post has no upvotes and over 1,400 comments. Strava users made it clear that if they had to choose between subscribing to the app and their expensive running watch, they would choose their Garmin and accused Strava of hypocrisy. For the full breakdown, you can check out our detailed article on the Strava-Garmin-Suunto situation.
Setting the record straight about Garmin of r/Strava
Strava’s statement
I reached out to both Strava and Garmin for comment on the issue, and although Garmin told me it simply couldn’t comment on legal disputes, Strava offered a more substantial statement.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on ongoing disputes. While we disagree with the broad brand Garmin is imposing, uninterrupted connectivity for the subset of our community that uses Garmin remains our top priority, and we have also decided that we will give similar attribution to all of our device partners in the future to be fair.
“Our goal is to make the brand as discreet as possible and we think it’s the right thing to do in light of the mandatory changes that Garmin is asking all developers to implement by November 1.”
Looking at this statement, it appears that Strava will capitulate to Garmin’s attribution demands, applying its logo to Strava posts uploaded from Garmin devices. Strava is doing this to make it easier, as much of Strava’s data originates from Garmin watches and cycle computers; Cutting off that data source entirely would be disastrous. Strava is reportedly considering an initial public offering, so it wants to look its best before going public.
It looks like Strava will be incorporating this expanded attribution functionality into data pulled from all of its partners “to be fair,” so expect workouts originally from Apple Watches, Samsung, and other devices to carry their own logos in the future.
This relates to a report of Gadgets and wearablesin which communications from Strava to developers show instructions for integrating this into future applications, if they use data coming from Garmin devices through Strava’s application programming interface.
As for legal disputes over possible patent infringements by Garmin, neither party has commented yet. The two issues are certainly related, so I wonder if now that one appears to be settling, Strava will drop its lawsuit or seek to settle quietly out of court. Either way, I can’t imagine Garmin’s best running watches will leave the shelves before Black Friday.