Oura sues Ultrahuman again, targeting U.S. sales of Ring Pro

Oura filed a fresh patent lawsuit against Ultrahuman on Thursday, asking a federal court in Texas to permanently block U.S. sales of the Indian rival's Ring Pro — only months after a redesign helped the Bengaluru startup return to the American market. The move keeps alive a legal fight that has run since 2023 and already knocked one Ultrahuman product out of the country.

Oura alleges the Ring Pro infringes two of its patents, D804,471 and 12,769,363, covering the ring's design and internal components including its battery and sensors. It's seeking monetary damages plus a permanent injunction. Notably, patent 12,769,363 was issued to Oura on October 20 — two days before the suit landed. That patent covers a smart-ring design with internal parts such as a curved battery, circuit board, magnets and sensors.

"Ultrahuman has a history of copying Oura's innovations, as demonstrated by the 2025 ITC ruling against the company," an Oura spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. "Ultrahuman introduced a redesigned ring but failed to address continued infringement of Oura's patents, seeking instead to capitalize on our innovation and the market leadership we have built."

Why this isn't a rerun of the import ban

The legal backdrop matters here. In August last year, Oura won an infringement ruling from the International Trade Commission, which triggered an import ban on Ultrahuman's earlier Ring Air. Ultrahuman then launched the redesigned Ring Pro in February, and in March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a favorable ruling that let the startup re-enter the U.S. market.

Oura's answer: the Customs decision covered only the patent from the original dispute, not the two cited now. "To protect its patent rights, Oura is now forced to file this complaint of patent infringement," the company said in its filing.

Oura also named Texas-based electronics manufacturer SVTronics as a defendant. The complaint says SVTronics builds the Ring Pro at a facility in Plano, Texas, allegedly under Ultrahuman's direction and control, and that both companies infringe through the manufacture, importation and sale of the device in the U.S. Naming the domestic manufacturer gives Oura a second target — and a second theory of liability — inside American jurisdiction.

What does this change for the smart-ring market?

For competitors, the message is that a Customs win doesn't close the door on Oura's patent arsenal, especially when new patents keep issuing. Oura has pursued infringement claims against Samsung, RingConn, Circular and Zepp Health. RingConn and Circular have settled into licensing agreements and now pay royalties to Oura to keep selling their products — a template Ultrahuman may eventually face.

The stakes keep rising. IDC expects global smart-ring shipments to grow 12.8% this year to 4.9 million units, and to reach roughly 6.3 million by 2030. Oura remains the category leader; Ultrahuman is one of its fastest-rising challengers.

Both companies are at inflection points

The lawsuit lands just weeks after Oura shelved its $2.2 billion IPO, citing "uncertainty" in the market. The company has kept shipping product anyway, rolling out new fitness metrics earlier this week that let users track how workouts affect their cardiovascular health.

Ultrahuman, meanwhile, raised $70 million in September from investors including Qualcomm Ventures and Labcorp, at a valuation of roughly $365 million. It's also working with Qualcomm on a new smart ring that could run more software directly on the device, as it pushes beyond health tracking into AI interactions and gaming.

Ultrahuman did not respond to a request for comment. For a startup that just re-entered the U.S. with a clean Customs ruling, the practical question is now whether it can keep the Ring Pro on shelves long enough for its Qualcomm partnership — and its hardware ambitions — to pay off.