{"id":521369,"date":"2026-03-07T23:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T23:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521369\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T23:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T23:25:15","slug":"suunto-vs-garmin-lawsuit-gets-really-frisky-garmins-countersuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521369\/","title":{"rendered":"Suunto vs Garmin Lawsuit Gets Really Frisky: Garmin&#8217;s Countersuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772925908_350_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Before Strava, there was Suunto. Both in terms of which company started business, but also, more notably, which company sued Garmin first. While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcrainmaker.com\/2025\/10\/strava-drops-voluntarily-lawsuit-against.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Strava suing Garmin back in October got all the headlines<\/a>, the reality is that Suunto actually sued Garmin nearly two weeks prior, though mostly unnoticed.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, in September, Suunto and their parent company, Dongguan Liesheng, sued Garmin over 5 different patent infringement allegations, and did so in a court district in Texas known specifically for being fast-moving and generally favoring the company filing the case. This was quite different than the Strava lawsuit in almost every way. The Suunto lawsuit was much more akin to typical patent-troll filing behavior. That was odd for a number of reasons, the most notable being that Suunto and Garmin generally got along just fine, including Suunto licensing numerous things from Garmin during a nearly two-decade-long span. A timeframe that, by all accounts, ended amicably as the two companies (and their ownerships) drifted in different directions.<\/p>\n<p>While Suunto initiated the first salvo back in September, Garmin seemed set on delivering the final 218-page WWF-style salvo back in late December, in a counter-claim of five other patents. As you\u2019ll see, some of the patents in question are incredibly complex, dealing with internal antenna structures. It\u2019s one of the reasons I hadn\u2019t really covered it previously; I prefer to talk about lawsuits I can dive into from a technical standpoint. But Garmin\u2019s response is just too juicy to ignore at this point, the level of sass is something I haven\u2019t seen from Olathe in..well\u2026ever. But also notably, an understanding that this isn\u2019t really the Suunto they know and love driving this, but rather their new parent company\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s dive into it.<\/p>\n<p>The Initial Patents:<\/p>\n<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167043\" title=\"SuuntoInitialFiling.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SuuntoInitialFiling.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" border=\"0\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>First up, Suunto\u2019s initial suit, filed back in September, centers on five specific patents. As one might expect of any company in this space for decades, Suunto has many patents. In fact, they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.suunto.com\/legal-pages\/patents\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">even have a super nifty website listing all of them<\/a> (I\u2019d love to see Suunto actually link to the patents for each one, but hey\u2026it\u2019s still a fun list). In any case, the patents are as follows:<\/p>\n<p>Patent 1: 7,489,241: This patent focuses on golf shot tracking, using an accelerometer (detecting the hit of the club against the ball)<\/p>\n<p>Patent 2: 8,021,306: This patent is around determining respiration rate via an optical HR sensor.<\/p>\n<p>Patent 3: 11,018,432: This is about slot mode antennas and antenna design in wearable devices. Slot mode antennas are basically antennas designed to become integrated as part of another object, such as the bezel\/etc\u2026and are usually flexible in some capacity.<\/p>\n<p>Patent 4: 7,271,774: This is also about placing antennas in a wrist-worn device.<\/p>\n<p>Patent 5: 10,734,731: This is further about antenna design in a wrist-worn device<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, three out of the five are about antenna design, with one about physiological metrics, and then the last one about golf shot tracking. These are somewhat all over the map, but that\u2019s OK, variety is the spice of life.<\/p>\n<p>In Suunto\u2019s 56-page filing, things are honestly pretty vanilla. While we often see grandiose lawyer fun in filings, including extravagant claims about a company\u2019s importance in the universe, Suunto\u2019s is pretty mellow. The vast majority of the filing is simply listing off the 9,328 different Garmin watch models that encompass these features, as required by the courts to establish which models are allegedly infringing.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of which, it asks the court to order Garmin to stop infringing on said patents, and to get some money in gift cards as a result. It\u2019s not as vocal as Strava\u2019s, which had an assortment of rhetoric and wants. Again, super-duper vanilla.<\/p>\n<p>As I said above, looking at these five patents myself, with 3 out of 5 of them requiring intimate internal knowledge of wire placement, those aren\u2019t ones I could decide one way or another. And the other two, golf-club and respiration rate, are frankly more of a he-said-she-said type thing. So I don\u2019t know who is right or wrong per se, but instead, I can tell you what actually matters here: Size.<\/p>\n<p>Before we go too far though, I do want to point out one thing \u2013 which is that this entire post is less about Suunto and their products (or how I view their products), and more about a legal circus. As I\u2019ll get into later on, I think Suunto is making some of the best products they\u2019ve ever made, and some of the most competitive products they\u2019ve ever made. I would *strongly* separate out Suunto\u2019s product\/engineering development teams from Dongguan Liesheng\u2019s legal teams. Got it? Good.<\/p>\n<p>      Garmin\u2019s Blistering Response:<\/p>\n<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167044\" title=\"GarminHQ.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GarminHQ.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" border=\"0\"   fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>After Suunto\u2019s filing, things were mostly quiet, as they usually are. The court\u2019s case notes basically are just various legal teams trading confirmations of assignment things, but nothing of note for a few months. That\u2019s normal. Instead, we have to fast forward to a few days after Christmas, on December 29th, when Garmin delivers an astonishing 218-page smack-down.<\/p>\n<p>I can only imagine Garmin\u2019s lawyers went to the company Christmas party some weekend in December, got a bit tipsy, and then proceeded to sit down at 2AM and write their best Suunto smack-down jokes they could. It\u2019s brutal. Just to set the stage for what\u2019s to come, here\u2019s one line from deep in the filing:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike everything else, Suunto predictably looked to copy Garmin\u2019s GPS technology as it fell behind in the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Which is a good time to point out that if\u00a0you\u2019re reading this post in a few years, Garmin\u2019s response may seem a bit strong. But you have to put things in context. This comes at a timeframe where they just got done feeling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcrainmaker.com\/2025\/10\/strava-drops-voluntarily-lawsuit-against.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">broadsided by Strava\u2019s lawsuit festival<\/a>, and then Suunto\u2019s starting in on the action too. From Garmin\u2019s perspective, this starts to look a little bit like the beginning of a trend. Keeping in mind that Garmin themselves haven\u2019t sued any company over patent bits in well over a decade. Their general stance here has been to ignore starting patent battles, but equally, they rarely lose the ones against them (almost never).<\/p>\n<p>So, where do we begin?<\/p>\n<p>Garmin\u2019s document is essentially divided up into about a dozen different \u2018defenses\u2019. Some of this stuff is just procedural, but some of it is very real technical talk. However, the very first defense is that Suunto literally sued the wrong company. I\u2019m not kidding. Garmin, of course, has a bunch of corporate entities, and basically, Suunto\u2019s lawyers picked the wrong one.<\/p>\n<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167045\" title=\"WrongCompany.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WrongCompany.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"719\" height=\"412\" border=\"0\"   fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This won\u2019t likely have any meaningful impact on the case, but it\u2019s a bit of a way to embarrass Suunto\u2019s legal team. Though admittedly, Garmin has almost as many shell companies as they have Instinct models.<\/p>\n<p>So now the document basically goes in a few different directions:<\/p>\n<p>1) They mount defenses against the five patents Suunto says Garmin is infringing<br \/>2) They initiate a countersuit against Suunto for five different patents<\/p>\n<p>But more interesting than all that, Garmin starts to separate out Suunto from Dongguan Liesheng. The way they do this is pretty notable, because it\u2019s Garmin saying, \u201cLook, you want this to be about Suunto, but we\u2019re actually going to sue you about every other Dongguan Liesheng device you have in the US\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, they give a brief nod on page 2 to the lower-level employees at Suunto first, seemingly saying, \u201cthis isn\u2019t about you, we know\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuunto and Garmin cooperated and competed constructively for years. Suunto was a long-time purchaser of Garmin\u2019s wireless and wellness technology. But since Dongguan Liesheng bought Suunto, moved production and design to China, laid off many of Suunto\u2019s employees, and filed this baseless lawsuit, that cooperation has ended.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And indeed that\u2019s true. Suunto had long licensed technology from Firstbeat, which Garmin acquired years earlier. But also, even before that, Suunto was a big part of ANT+ too (which Garmin owned). Long-time engineers at these two companies know each other on a first-name basis. Heck, upwards of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcrainmaker.com\/2010\/09\/my-24-hour-trip-to-ant-symposium.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">15 years ago I sat down having nightly beers with them all at the same table<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From there, the games begin. For example, in relation to Dongguan Liesheng\u2019s products, instead of talking about mostly offending Suunto products (which they do later), they include screenshots of offending Dongguan Liesheng products. These are, of course, still mixed in with Suunto ones, but the emphasis here is on pointing out the breach of things.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167046 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"AmazonListings.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"624\" height=\"480\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AmazonListings.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>As we start to get into some of the patents, things get spicy quickly. They point out that Suunto\u2019s \u2018306 patent (the one about respiration rate via HR) is actually something Suunto licensed from Garmin starting back in 2003. They then call out a provision (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. \u00a7 102(f)), which basically states you can\u2019t patent something you learned from someone else. And given that Suunto\u2019s \u2018306 patent literally references Garmin\u2019s own patent as prior art, Garmin is doing a bit of a double-take here:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167047 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"PriorArt.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"719\" height=\"452\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/PriorArt.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>Now, to be clear, you can (and should) absolutely list prior art in your patent application. That in and of itself isn\u2019t an issue (and is part of almost every filing). But Garmin\u2019s defense here is so short and blunt that they seem almost baffled at why they\u2019d have to defend it. Again, I\u2019m not going to try to figure out which side is right here. Because while Garmin lays out a pretty straightforward case, patent battles are rarely straightforward. Still, it seems like Dongguan Liesheng\u2019s lawyers just aren\u2019t familiar with the decades-long intertwined history that Suunto\/Garmin\/FirstBeat actually have.<\/p>\n<p>After that, Garmin tries to pull an argument that even if Suunto were to succeed on the \u2018241 &amp; \u2018306 patent, it\u2019d be limited to infringements after 2022, due to assignment of rights from the American sports acquisition. I\u2019m not a lawyer, but this claim seems pretty shaky to me.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, there are a few things that are a bit weird, or simply incorrect. For example, Garmin does a bunch of weird date and company fails here, that almost seems like AI mistakes:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuunto is a Finnish brand that sells fitness watches. Suunto launched it\u2019s first GPS product in 2003, some 12 years after Garmin launched it\u2019s first GPS product and also after Garmin\u2019s first fitness watch\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, Suunto launched its first GPS-integrated watch product in 2003\/2004 (Suunto X9), and Garmin launched their first in 2003 (Forerunner 201), but that\u2019s actually all ignoring the fact that Garmin got their dates\/companies\/etc all mixed up here.<\/p>\n<p>Same goes for this section talking about Connect IQ (during a general grandstanding moment). This is incorrect, because Suunto actually beat Garmin to an App Store, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcrainmaker.com\/2012\/11\/a-detailed-look-at-suuntos-new-big-ambit-update-including-app-zone-ant.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Suunto App Zone in 2012<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcrainmaker.com\/2014\/09\/garmin-connect-apps.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">versus Garmin\u2019s 2014<\/a>). Suunto later did a different App Store in 2022, but Suunto definitely beat Garmin here on timelines, no matter how you slice it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167048 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"ConnectIQ.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"717\" height=\"253\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ConnectIQ.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>And that ignores the comments about Garmin pay and Suunto contactless payments, because the Suunto watch they are referring to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcrainmaker.com\/2020\/02\/suunto7-wearos-review.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here is the Suunto 7<\/a>, which is really a WearOS watch\u2026and thus, if we want to get really picky here, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfcw.com\/2017\/02\/09\/350020\/google-unveils-android-wear-2-0-new-watches-support-nfc-mobile-payments\/#:~:text=Related%20news,watch%20range%20with%20Android%20Pay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WearOS actually had contactless payments before Garmin did, in February 2017<\/a> versus Garmin\u2019s November 2017. Just sayin\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n<p>So, on to the patents. When it comes to the golf patent, things are relatively straightforward there. First, Garmin says:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuunto\u2019s \u2019774 and \u2019241 Patents both describe obsolete functionality not used in any Garmin products. It is difficult to have meaningful patents for Suunto as it is consistently behind its competitors, such as Garmin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ouch.<\/p>\n<p>But, nonetheless, they carry on and explain why the \u2018241 golf patent wouldn\u2019t apply here anyway:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGarmin Ltd. denies at least that any of the \u2019241 Patent Garmin Accused Products \u201cdetermine[e] a GPS position of the user when the strike event is detected\u201d or \u201crecord[] at least the GPS position of the user within a wearable wristop computer after the determination of the GPS position of the user is completed,\u201d as required by the \u2019241 Patent. GPS functionality in the \u2019241 Patent Garmin Accused Products operates independently of shot detection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Basically, Garmin is saying that the patent itself requires the usage of GPS to trigger a shot event, and then Garmin says that it\u2019s not leveraging GPS for anything to do with the shot. At this point, we have no way to independently validate that code (that\u2019ll come later), but frankly, it kinda makes sense. There\u2019s no reason to use a GPS coordinate when detecting an accelerometer\/gyroscope event like a golf swing.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019m going to skip past the Firstbeat things. Mostly because Garmin\u2019s response here is part-flabbergast at Suunto\u2019s gall, but also part \u201cfine, if you want to play this game, we\u2019re going to play it so much harder\u201d, which is the counter-suit part.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven a cursory review of Suunto\u2019s infringement allegations against Garmin shows they are without merit. It is difficult to have meaningful patents as a company that is consistently behind its competitors. Suunto\u2019s \u2019306 Patent was copied from Firstbeat technology that Suunto once licensed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Garmin\u2019s response, they outline five additional patents that they are countersuing for. Effectively saying, \u201cIf you sue us, we\u2019re going to sue you for these five patents\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Patent 1: 10,271,299: This is focused on GPS antenna design (meant to reply to the \u2018432 and \u2018731 patents, as it pre-dates those)<\/p>\n<p>Patent 2: 10,276,925: More GPS antenna design<\/p>\n<p>Patent 3: 10,856,794: Firstbeat recovery time and other metrics<\/p>\n<p>Patent 4: 11,318,351: More Firstbeat metrics, indulging training, recovery data<\/p>\n<p>Patent 5: 11,956,874: The Flashlight<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s talk about antenna design. Or at least, let\u2019s talk about how much Garmin really wants to talk about antenna design. Holy moly. You can tell some Garmin engineers got really fired up about this one. The amount of work they put into this initial filing illustrates they aren\u2019t playing around.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the filing, they spent about 25 pages alone on photographs, diagrams, x-ray scans, and an assortment of text, illustrating that Garmin believes Suunto straight-up duplicated antenna design from Garmin\u2019s products and patents.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167100 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"SuuntoAntenaDesign3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"719\" height=\"413\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SuuntoAntenaDesign3.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>Page after page of illustration, diagram, x-rays, and more:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167099 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"SuuntoAntennaDesign2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"610\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SuuntoAntennaDesign2.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>And more:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167098 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"SuuntoAntennadesign1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"436\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SuuntoAntennadesign1.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>Now again, the nuances here matter a ton. But it\u2019s clear that in this section, Garmin made its point.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because shortly after Garmin\u2019s WWF-style response, Suunto filed an update to their lawsuit, basically saying \u2018Uhh\u2026 never mind\u2019 about the antenna design patent infringement. Both Garmin and Suunto came to an agreement there, and as part of that specific patent (out of five), Suunto has agreed to step back into the bushes,\u00a0 Homer Simpson style.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s get to the funnest part here: The Flashlight.<\/p>\n<p>The Inspector Gadget Flashlight:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-167526 perfmatters-lazy\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_0354-720x480.jpeg\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>As part of Garmin\u2019s countersuit, they decided to flash Suunto. Or rather, pull out the flashlight patent. As you probably know, the Suunto Vertical 2 includes an LED flashlight. From a hardware standpoint, it\u2019s roughly akin to what we saw Garmin implement starting with the Fenix series in 6X, and then now continuing into numerous other watch lines (Forerunner, Venu, Instinct, etc\u2026).<\/p>\n<p>However, Garmin <a href=\"https:\/\/patents.justia.com\/patent\/11956874\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">actually has a patent on that from 2024<\/a>, though they haven\u2019t selected to practically sue anyone else. For example, back in August, we saw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DlsSRGTwV04\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Amazfit introduce it into its T-Rex 3 Pro watch<\/a>, with a relatively similar design.<\/p>\n<p>In any event, Garmin decided to pull out the flashlight patent on Suunto as part of the countersuit, saying:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuunto\u2019s products are typically two or three years behind Garmin\u2019s products. When Garmin launches a feature, such as solar technology, optical heart rate monitoring, mobile payments, and online activity sharing, to name a few, Suunto invariably follows with a copy. As one recent example, Garmin\u2019s f\u0113nix 7X product launched in 2022, and included an integrated flashlight, which was met with universally rave reviews. Three years later, Suunto duplicated Garmin\u2019s work to provide the exact same design as Garmin, resulting in infringement of Garmin\u2019s U.S. Patent No. 11,956,874 (\u201cthe \u2019874 Patent\u201d)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But this is where things get a bit interesting when it comes to patents. You see, just about any company can apply for a patent on something, and often get it. In the grand scheme of patent life, that\u2019s kinda cheap and easy. But what really matters is defending the patent down the road in a lawsuit (in other words, getting it invalidated).<\/p>\n<p>Having a patent (as Garmin does), scares other companies into not duplicating the feature. It acts as a deterrent, even if it\u2019s on sketchy grounds. That\u2019s because the cost to litigate a patent is so high. So in Garmin\u2019s case, finding a way to get a patent for this has likely limited other companies from duplicating the feature.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, I\u2019m not really convinced Garmin should have ever had this patent. And the reason is actually simple: Inspector Gadget.<\/p>\n<p>Or rather, more specifically, Penny. Despite common reference to Inspector Gadget, it\u2019s actually his niece who had the smartwatch with a flashlight. This flashlight mode in her smartwatch debuted on September 19th, 1983, in an episode <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C1wtQs7vGGI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">titled \u201cThe Boat\u201d, at roughly the 12min 49sec marker, which you can find in full here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-167101 perfmatters-lazy\" title=\"InspectorGadget.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"505\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/InspectorGadget.png\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>This is actually super important for a number of reasons. In the patent world, things seen on TV and in movies are absolutely considered prior art. If the idea existed prior to a patent, the idea is no longer patentable (at least without adding more conditions). And, to be clear, there may be other watches with flashlights that precede Inspector Gadget. And to be clear, her watch is definitely a smartwatch by even today\u2019s standards. It can stream communications wirelessly, it has a touchscreen, it has TV on it, video streaming, various app-like features, and more.<\/p>\n<p>But there were also real-world watches after that. In the early 2010\u2019s, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=px_9KbPTX90\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Victorinox launched Swiss Army Night Vision edition, which included a flashlight in an analog watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772925915_635_hqdefault.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Beyond these two simple examples, there are countless others in TV and movies. Various James Bond films in the 1960s had flashlights in watches, as did Batman movies later on (including multiple lights), Spy Kids in 2001 also had multi-colored LEDs in smartwatches, and more.<\/p>\n<p>However, again, patents are complex beasts, and Garmin appears to be hanging their hat on a <a href=\"https:\/\/patents.justia.com\/patent\/11956874\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">few specific nuances in their patent<\/a> beyond \u2018Flashlight in watch\u2019. 21 claims to be precise. They include all of the following:<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Must have two light-emitting elements (aka two LEDs, as Garmin, Suunto, Amazfit does\u2026Penny is questionable\/unclear)<br \/>\u2013 They must exist in the sidewall of the watch between the 10:00 and 2:00 position (as Garmin, Penny, and Victornox does, as well as Suunto\/Amazfit)<br \/>\u2013 It must be a smartwatch (as Penny, Garmin, Suunto, Amazfit do)<br \/>\u2013 It must be between 10:00 and 2:00 (as all do)<br \/>\u2013 It must have a touchscreen (as all the smartwatches do, including Penny)<br \/>\u2013 It must have a button that can be assigned to operate it (as all smartwatches do, but Penny is unclear in this episode)<\/p>\n<p>From there, it goes into the user interface, and basically boils down to:<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 It must have a user-selectable color (as Garmin\/Suunto\/Amazfit do)<br \/>\u2013 It must have user-selectable intensity (as Garmin\/Suunto\/Amazfit do)<\/p>\n<p>In fact, in reading through all 21 claims and subclaims, the singular difference to Inspector Gadget\u2019s implementation is the usage of potentially different colors, as well as potentially two LEDs. Starting off with colors, this would almost certainly fail the \u2018obviousness\u2019 test, since countless flashlights allowed for different colors, and in fact, in other Inspector Gadget episodes, he has other wearable devices that have multi-colored flashlights. In Garmin\u2019s claims, each light only emits a single color, not multi-color LEDs<\/p>\n<p>Next is the two-light configuration. Garmin specifically narrowed it down to two lights. Not one, not \u201cat least two\u201d, but precisely two. We don\u2019t know from the animation if that light panel was considered a single light. It looks like it, but that\u2019d be a hard thing to prove. Further, that ignores another three decades of TV and movies with flashlights in smartwatches (same applies to colors).<\/p>\n<p>In fact, reading through this, the hole in the fence here is either using a single mutli-color LED, or using 3 LEDs, or just a single LED of a single color.<\/p>\n<p>(As a side note, <a href=\"https:\/\/patents.justia.com\/patent\/20220338325\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Garmin also has a secondary patent<\/a> around the flashlight, though not mentioned here, which covers the cadence triggering of the light, as Suunto doesn\u2019t leverage such a mode. That patent seems *far* more defendable, as it\u2019s hyper-specific to that feature.)<\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t think this really matters. As I said above, the whole point of this patent is to be used as a baseball bat in scenarios just like this. Garmin likely knows this patent isn\u2019t really defensible in a true court battle with a company that has enough money (e.g., Apple, Samsung, Google, etc\u2026). Such a company would easily find other examples in TV or movies to nullify the remaining claims.<\/p>\n<p>Here however, Garmin is able to wield this flashlight just like a sword, as a defensive move. And sure, perhaps some smaller player that doesn\u2019t bother to follow Garmin\u2019s legal patterns might proactively ask for licensing on it, but that\u2019d be a waste. For example, if I were in COROS\u2019s shoes, I\u2019d have no real legal concerns about putting a flashlight in their watches. Garmin simply hasn\u2019t shown any offensive patent posture, and atop that, they\u2019d be unlikely to waste their time trying to use this patent as a sword, when there are countless others they could more efficiently use instead.<\/p>\n<p>Wrap-Up:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-167525 perfmatters-lazy\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_0358-720x480.jpeg\"  data-\/><\/p>\n<p>As I alluded to at the beginning, I disagree with Garmin about one major thing here. They said that Suunto\u2019s products have deteriorated since the Dongguan Liesheng acquisition. In fact, looking at their products from a consumer and reviewer standpoint, their products have unquestionably gotten better, adding more features, and have become more competitive. Especially in price. That\u2019s factually not debatable. We can, however, have a solid discussion about moving manufacturing to China, shifting most staffing to China, potentially about data privacy, and anything else from that salad bowl. But in terms of the end-state products Suunto is currently making? They are the best and most competitive smartwatches Suunto has ever made. Period.<\/p>\n<p>However, Dongguan Liesheng\u2019s lawsuit via Suunto appears comically misguided and naive. It illustrates an entity (be it a legal team or otherwise) that did little research into how strong a patent position Garmin has relative to Suunto, and more critically, how deep in the hole Suunto would really be when it comes to a patent battle with Garmin. Suunto effectively walked into battle with a purse-sized cache of old, and perhaps non-functional weapons. Whereas Garmin showed up with a few 747s\u2019 worth, brand-new and straight off the factory floor. Whether or not Suunto is right about the four remaining patents is largely irrelevant because Garmin can simply show other Suunto-infringing patents all day long.<\/p>\n<p>This ultimately gets to why most of these companies don\u2019t sue each other: It\u2019s a mutually assured destruction scenario. Virtually all of the tech companies (well beyond health\/fitness) are infringing on patents from one another. Many of those patents are probably flimsy at best, but they are issued, and that\u2019s what matters.<\/p>\n<p>My guess is that over the coming weeks (maybe months if they really want to spend money), we\u2019ll see Suunto continue to file updates to the case as they did, probably ultimately giving up entirely. Just my hunch.<\/p>\n<p>With that \u2013 thanks for reading!<\/p>\n<p>FOUND THIS POST USEFUL? SUPPORT THE SITE!<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, you found this post useful. 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As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn\u2019t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. It could simply be <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3SEEIK9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">buying toilet paper<\/a>, or this <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3SEMN1M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pizza oven<\/a> we use and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Strava, there was Suunto. 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