Ahead of a rumored IPO, Strava’s lawsuit accuses Garmin of overstepping a collaboration agreement related to Strava’s “Segments” technology. On social media, some users are siding with Garmin
Strava has filed suit against Garmin in Colorado federal court, accusing the wearable device maker of patent infringement and breach of a 2015 agreement that gave Garmin limited rights to Strava’s popular segment feature.
The lawsuit comes as Strava is in growth mode. The social fitness platform has been expanding through acquisitions and recently hit a $2.2 billion valuation, according to Reuters, which also reported that Strava may pursue an IPO that could come as early as 2026.
The complaint, filed September 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, alleges Garmin’s devices and software infringe on three Strava patents covering segment matching and popularity-based routing.
Strava also claims Garmin overstepped a Master Cooperation Agreement signed in 2015 that permitted Strava Segments to appear on Garmin devices under strict conditions. Segments, one of Strava’s most recognizable features, are user-defined stretches of road or trail where athletes can log their times, compare performance against others and track progress. While anyone can see segments, Strava Premium subscribers gain access to deeper insights and leaderboards.
According to the filing, Garmin expanded its own “Garmin segments” beyond what the agreement allowed and deployed routing and heatmap features that practice Strava’s patented technology. Heatmaps are visualizations of activity data that highlight the most popular routes and trails.
The accused products include Garmin Connect, Edge bike computers, and Forerunner, Fenix, and Epix watches. Strava says it first notified Garmin of the alleged infringement in June 2025 and again in July. The suit seeks a permanent injunction blocking Garmin from selling hardware or software with the accused functionality, along with damages and attorneys’ fees.
While the complaint focuses on patents and a cooperation agreement, Strava’s public messaging has emphasized something different, according to a post by Matt Salazar, Strava’s chief product officer, who took to Reddit’s r/Strava forum on Thursday to “set the record straight” about the lawsuit and its timing.
In the post, Salazar said Garmin announced new developer guidelines on July 1 that require the Garmin logo to appear on “every single activity post, screen, graph, image, sharing card etc.”, and warned Strava it would cut off API access if the company did not comply by November 1.
Salazar wrote that Strava opposes the policy for two reasons. First, he said it amounts to “blatant advertising” that degrades the user experience, noting Strava already provides attribution for every data partner while Garmin “doesn’t even provide data attribution for 3rd party devices” on Garmin Connect. Second, he said Strava views activity files as user-owned data that “should be able to be freely transferred or uploaded without requiring logos to be displayed alongside it or used as an advertisement to sell more watches.”
According to the post, Strava spent five months attempting to resolve the dispute with Garmin, including proposing “less intrusive” attribution, but stated that those efforts were unsuccessful.
The post on Reddit was met with sharply critical responses, with the most upvoted replies calling Strava’s stance hypocritical, pointing to its own attribution and API changes and saying a small Garmin logo would not hurt the experience. Many commenters said they use Strava primarily because it syncs with Garmin and threatened to cancel subscriptions if that link breaks, while others argued they would choose Garmin over Strava if forced.
Some of the backlash went beyond criticism. Several users posted that they had already canceled their Strava subscriptions, with similar sentiment seen on the r/Garmin community.
Industry observers, most notably Ray Maker of DC Rainmaker, have described the lawsuit as unexpected, even puzzling, given the context.
Garmin first introduced its own heatmaps in 2013 and segments in 2014 (before Strava’s patents were granted), and Garmin devices have long been the primary way athletes upload workouts to Strava, making the legal fight unusual given the companies’ history of integration. The dispute over heatmaps also comes with baggage: Strava’s Global Heatmap has previously drawn scrutiny for unintentionally exposing sensitive data, including military bases and even the homes of everyday users.
Garmin declined to comment for this story, stating it does not comment on pending litigation.
