It’s unclear what, if anything, Strava gained in this brief legal battle.
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
Updated October 22, 2025 01:09PM
At the end of last month, Strava sued Garmin over multiple alleged patent infringements. Today, Strava is backing down and withdrawing its suit.
For those unaware, the initial suit was focused on two main patents covering heatmaps and segments — basically the core of what built Strava into the platform it is today. According to Strava’s chief product officer Matt Salazar though, the patents were actually a side event.
Salazar said through a Reddit post that the lawsuit regarding the patents was actually leverage for a disagreement about crediting Garmin data when used. In that post Salazar stated, “As you have seen, we’ve recently taken some action against Garmin. I wanted to post on here to share some background on why we did this and the situation with Garmin.
On July 1st, Garmin announced new developer guidelines for all of its API partners, including Strava, that required the Garmin logo to be present on every single activity post, screen, graph, image, sharing card etc. We have until November 1st to comply, and if not, Garmin has threatened to cut off access to their API, stopping all Garmin activities from being uploaded to Strava.” Salazar went on to explain that Strava considered this “blatant advertising” and that Strava was trying to protect “YOUR data.”
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
At the time of that post, it was clear that users in the Reddit thread were not on Strava’s side in this disagreement. Beyond sentiment though, the claims Salazar made about the Garmin API weren’t accurate. Specifically, a Garmin logo was never required in the data attribution.
The Garmin API Brand Guidelines do state “All uses of Garmin device-sourced data within detailed data views, reports, settings or historical views must include a ‘Garmin [device model]’ attribution.” Importantly though, Garmin goes on to state “The attribution can include the Garmin tag logo followed by the device model or simply be listed in appropriately sized text…”
It should also be noted that Strava has almost the same requirements. The Strava API Brand Guidelines state “If you choose to link back to any original Strava data sources presented in your application you must use the following text format, ‘View on Strava.’”
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
Strava started to backtrack October 11
Today’s news was not the first hint that Strava had changed course following the initial lawsuit. On October 11, a user posted to Reddit showing an email Strava sent to developers. That email showed a change to the Strava API that required developers to conform to the Garmin requirements and stated “Activity data obtained through the Strava API may include data that requires attribution to Garmin. Therefore, if your application displays information derived from Garmin-sourced data, you must display attribution to Garmin in the form and manner required by Garmin’s brand guidelines.”
Another 11 days and the lawsuit is done
It’s 11 days after that email to developers went out and things seem to be wrapping up in this legal spat. We’ve reached out to Strava for comment, however as of publication there’s been no response. That leaves only a trail of court activity punctuated by a single line this week: “Notice of Voluntary Dismissal.”
The case is being dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be brought again, however there’s no hint of a settlement of any kind. If Strava gained something in this exchange, it’s not public.