Oura has alleged that Ultrahuman copied its technology and accessed proprietary information. It accused the Indian company of violating patents and copyrights in developing its fitness ring, which was launched in 2022.
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The plaintiff said in its complaint that Ultrahuman is funded in part by a sovereign wealth fund and supported by an investor who gained access to confidential and proprietary information on the Oura Ring in or around December 2021.
“Moreover, Ultrahuman has hired and solicited a number of Oura’s employees and engineers to assist with development of the Accused Instrumentalities,” the complaint added, referring to the product development.
The plaintiff has sought the award of damages from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division for the alleged infringements, including no less than all the profits realised by Ultrahuman as a result of the infringements.
Oura also sought a permanent injunction against Ultrahuman and its related parties, including officers, agents and employees.
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The complaint, filed in September and reviewed by ET, was first reported by TheNextWeb.Ultrahuman, which last raised $17.5 million from investors such as Alpha Wave Incubation, Steadview Capital and Nexus Venture Partners in 2021, reported revenues of Rs 2.12 crore in the financial year ended March that year.
In FY21, the last reported period, its losses had risen to Rs 23.22 crore from Rs 3.06 crore in FY20. The company was founded by Mohit Kumar and Vatsal Singhal in 2019.
Kumar did not immediately respond to ET’s request for comment on the development.
Earlier this week, the company figured on top of International Data Corporation’s India monthly wearable device tracker category of smart rings. It led the segment with a 75.5% market share in the third quarter of 2023, ended September.
In April 2022, the Bengaluru-based startup had acquired a wearables company called LazyCo.
With LazyCo’s hardware design and manufacturing abilities in place, Ultrahuman launched its first ring, called R1, in 2022, followed by the Ring Air in 2023.
Oulu, Finland-headquartered Oura Health manufactures Oura Ring, a smart ring that delivers personalised health data, insights and daily guidance to users. The ring tracks stages of sleep and recovery and accounts for daily activity.
Founded in 2013, with offices in Helsinki, San Francisco and San Diego, Oura has raised capital from investors such as Lifeline Ventures, Forerunner Ventures and Temasek.
Oura’s last funding was raised at a valuation of $2.55 billion in April 2022, less than a month after reaching the milestone of selling 1 million Oura rings.
