Industry News
Quick Verdict
What started as one patent dispute is now the defining story of the smart ring market. Since March 2024, Oura has used a single hardware patent to win a US import ban against Ultrahuman, sign royalty deals with RingConn, Circular, and OMATE, push Luna Ring maker Nexxbase out of the US entirely, settle with Amazfit maker Zepp, and open a second front against Samsung and Reebok. Along the way an administrative law judge found Ultrahuman's CEO not credible after evidence of a faked Texas factory, Ultrahuman engineered a redesigned ring that US Customs cleared back into the country, and Oura began preparing an IPO that reports say could value it above $16 billion.
If you own or want a smart ring, the practical takeaways are short: RingConn and Amazfit are safe to buy, Ultrahuman is back with the Ring Pro but still fighting on three continents, the Galaxy Ring is on sale while its fate is litigated, and existing owners of banned rings keep their apps and warranty support. The deeper lesson is about data: hardware companies can be banned, licensed, or litigated out of your life, so your health history should live somewhere that survives all of it.
The Patent Behind Everything
The weapon in round one is US Patent 11,868,178, titled "Wearable Computing Device." It covers the way a sensor-packed smart ring is physically constructed, including its outer housing, inner housing, and the cavity that holds a curved battery. Oura did not originally invent it: the patent traces back to Motiv, an early smart ring maker whose assets passed to Proxy in 2020 and then to Oura in 2023.
The patent was granted on January 9, 2024. Ultrahuman likes to point out that Oura filed its trade complaint 63 days later. Ultrahuman's public defense argued the patent merely bundles well-known components into a ring and pointed to prior art from the 1990s. That argument mostly failed: the judge found the asserted claims valid and infringed, and a separate Samsung challenge at the Patent Office later knocked out only two minor claims while upholding the rest.
Round One: Oura vs Ultrahuman and RingConn
In March 2024, Oura filed a complaint at the US International Trade Commission, a venue that cannot award damages but can do something scarier: block products at the border. The ITC opened investigation 337-TA-1398 against India-based Ultrahuman, China-based RingConn, and France-based Circular in April 2024.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Mar 2024 | Oura files its ITC complaint against Ultrahuman, RingConn, and Circular |
| Jun 2024 | Circular exits early, taking a patent license and paying royalties |
| Apr 18, 2025 | The administrative law judge finds Ultrahuman and RingConn infringe valid claims of the '178 patent |
| Aug 21, 2025 | The full Commission agrees and issues a limited exclusion order plus cease-and-desist orders |
| Oct 21, 2025 | The presidential review period ends with no veto. The ban becomes final. RingConn settles the same day |
| Dec 2025 | Ultrahuman's requests to pause the ban are denied by both the ITC and the Federal Circuit. RingConn is formally removed from the exclusion order |
The hearing produced the case's most extraordinary subplot. Ultrahuman had claimed it was standing up US manufacturing in Plano, Texas, which could have softened the impact of any import ban. Oura presented evidence that Ultrahuman's proof included altered images of a third party's building dressed up with Ultrahuman branding. The judge addressed it bluntly, finding Ultrahuman's CEO not a credible witness. Legal commentators noted the fabrication was handled through credibility findings rather than formal sanctions, but the damage to Ultrahuman's case was done.
RingConn chose the other path. On the day the ban became final, Oura and RingConn announced a comprehensive settlement: a multi-year patent license with royalty payments that keeps RingConn rings and their app fully available in the US. RingConn's CEO said plainly that the company respects Oura's intellectual property. Two months later the ITC formally rescinded the orders against RingConn, leaving Ultrahuman as the only company still banned.
The Comeback: Ultrahuman Engineers Around the Ban
Ultrahuman's response to losing was not to stop selling rings. It was to redesign the ring so the patent no longer describes it. The banned Ring AIR used a two-part housing, a titanium shell with an epoxy inner layer. The new Ring Pro replaces that with a single, continuously formed titanium tube with a snap-in cap, a construction that avoids the separate inner and outer housing the '178 claims require.
The day after the exclusion order issued, Ultrahuman asked US Customs and Border Protection to rule on whether the redesign falls outside the ban. On March 6, 2026, CBP agreed: the Ring Pro is not subject to exclusion, though imports are conditioned on certification and CBP reserved the right to demand CT scans and manufacturing records to verify the unibody construction. Notably, even Oura conceded during the proceeding that an integrally formed housing tube would not practice all of the patent's limitations, and the ruling separately faulted Oura for mislabeling an image in its own submission.
US preorders reopened on March 24, 2026, with early pricing tiers from $349 and a list price around $399 to $449 depending on configuration, no subscription required. Shipments began in late June. Ultrahuman's CEO framed it as "engineering has prevailed." TechCrunch reported the ban had cost Ultrahuman up to $50 million in sales, in a market that made up roughly 45 percent of its users. Oura's response was frosty: the CBP decision "is not a final or comprehensive ruling," and it is evaluating appeals and further enforcement.
The fight is not over. Ultrahuman's appeal of the underlying ITC ruling is still pending at the Federal Circuit. Oura filed a second suit in Texas asserting five more patents against Ultrahuman and its US contract manufacturer. And Ultrahuman has countersued Oura in the Delhi High Court in India, where Ultrahuman is headquartered.
Round Two: The Samsung War and the November Sweep
Samsung saw all of this coming. In mid-2024, before the Galaxy Ring even shipped, it preemptively sued Oura asking a court to declare five Oura patents not infringed. A California judge dismissed the case in 2025 because Oura had not actually threatened Samsung. Samsung also challenged the '178 patent at the Patent Office and mostly lost, with the core claims upheld.
Then Oura stopped being coy. In late October 2025 it sued Samsung in the Eastern District of Texas over the Galaxy Ring and Samsung Health. In November 2025 it filed a second ITC complaint, instituted in December as investigation 337-TA-1468, naming Samsung, Reebok, Zepp Health, which makes the Amazfit Helio Ring, and Nexxbase, which makes the Luna Ring sold under the Noise brand.
That sweep has already thinned out. Nexxbase signed a consent order in January 2026 agreeing to exit the US smart ring market for the life of the patents. Zepp settled in July 2026 on undisclosed terms, with both sides dropping their claims. That leaves Samsung and Reebok as the remaining targets.
Samsung, unlike everyone else, is punching back at full weight. In December 2025 it filed its own ITC complaint against Oura, instituted in January 2026 as investigation 337-TA-1478, asserting four Samsung patents and seeking an import ban on the Oura Ring itself, plus a parallel Texas countersuit with six more patents. For the first time in this saga, Oura's own hardware is the accused product. Both investigations, and both Texas cases, are unresolved as of this writing, and the Galaxy Ring remains on sale.
What This Means for Ring Buyers in 2026
| Ring | Status as of August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Oura Ring 4 / Ring 5 | Unaffected and dominant. Reports put Oura around three quarters of global smart ring shipments, with an IPO reportedly targeted for late 2026 |
| RingConn Gen 3 / Gen 4 | Fully licensed and safe to buy. Royalties flow to Oura |
| Ultrahuman Ring Pro | Legally on sale in the US under the CBP ruling, no subscription. Litigation continues on multiple fronts |
| Ultrahuman Ring AIR | Still banned from import. Existing owners keep app, firmware, and warranty support, and warranty replacements are exempt from the order |
| Amazfit Helio Ring | Zepp settled with Oura in July 2026; terms undisclosed |
| Luna Ring (Noise / Nexxbase) | Exiting the US market under a consent order |
| Samsung Galaxy Ring | On sale while dueling ITC cases and Texas suits play out |
Two bigger consequences are worth naming. First, price and business-model pressure: the companies Oura targeted were largely the no-subscription crowd, and every settlement adds royalty costs to the cheap end of the market while Oura's $5.99 a month membership model faces less pressure. Second, consolidation: through one patent family, Oura now collects royalties from or has removed most of its US competition, a tidy position to hold while preparing an IPO that Bloomberg-sourced reports say could seek a valuation above $16 billion as soon as September.
Where Vora Fits: Your Data Should Outlive the Lawsuits
Here is the uncomfortable question this saga raises for anyone who owns a wearable: what happens to your years of sleep, HRV, and recovery history if your ring maker gets banned, exits your country, or loses an appeal? Nexxbase owners in the US are living that question right now. Ring AIR owners spent months in limbo. Galaxy Ring owners are watching two governments' worth of litigation with their data on the line.
Vora is built for exactly this world. It is device-agnostic by design: it reads from Apple Health and Health Connect, offers a direct Oura integration, and works with whichever tracker you wear next. Your baselines, trends, and history accumulate in one place that does not depend on any single hardware company's legal fortunes. If you switch from a banned ring to a licensed one, your recovery model comes with you.
Choosing hardware today? Our comparisons of the best smart rings of 2026, Ultrahuman vs Oura, and Amazfit Helio Ring vs Oura cover the field, and our look at Oura's IPO and the future of wearables covers where the winner is headed.