The Suunto vs Garmin lawsuit has now formally moved into the discovery phase with both sides exchanging internal documents as of February 2026. At the same time the court has narrowed the scope of the case and locked in a trial timeline that stretches well into 2027.
When this lawsuit first surfaced it landed alongside a separate legal fight between Garmin and Strava. That parallel case is now gone after Strava voluntarily walked away in October. Suunto has taken a very different approach and is pushing ahead.
Discovery is now underway
Discovery is where things usually get uncomfortable for both sides. This is the stage where emails engineering documents internal presentations and technical schematics start moving between legal teams.
Discovery takes time money and internal resources and companies only commit when they believe the case is worth fighting. For Suunto it means backing up its patent claims with detailed technical evidence. For a company like Garmin that means opening up how certain hardware designs and algorithms were developed.
One of the most important changes since the original filing is the removal of the so called 432 patent. On January 20 2026 Judge Rodney Gilstrap signed an order dismissing all claims tied to that patent with prejudice. This means it is gone for good and cannot be reintroduced later.
That patent focused on detecting golf ball strikes and logging their positions. Its removal narrows the battlefield and leaves four patents still in play. The remaining claims now concentrate on antenna structures and respiratory rate tracking which sit much closer to the core of modern multisport watches.
This is a meaningful narrowing of the case even if the word meaningful is doing a lot of work here. Fewer patents means a more focused technical argument and potentially a clearer path to trial.
Garmin formally pushes back
On February 3 2026 Garmin filed its official response to the amended complaint. The document runs to 212 pages which gives you an idea of how seriously the company is taking this. In that filing Garmin denies all allegations of infringement and lays the groundwork for its defense.
While the full arguments are buried deep in legal language the strategy is familiar. Garmin is likely arguing that its technology does not rely on Suunto’s inventions or that the patents themselves should not hold up under scrutiny. This filing was a required step to keep the case moving and it signals that Garmin is not interested in a quiet settlement at this stage.
A long road to trial
The court has now set a firm schedule and it makes one thing very clear. This is going to take time.
A Markman hearing is scheduled for February 4 2027. That is the point where the judge decides how specific patent terms should be interpreted which often shapes the entire outcome of the case. Jury selection is pencilled in for August 16 2027 roughly six months later.
Unless the two sides strike a deal before then this dispute will hang over both companies for quite a while. Suunto continues to seek monetary damages and a permanent injunction. The injunction part is what grabs attention because it could in theory block the import and sale of popular Garmin watches in the United States including Fenix Epix and Forerunner models.
In practice these outcomes are rare. Courts usually require proof that financial compensation alone cannot address the harm. Still the request itself shows that Suunto is playing this hard and is not limiting its ambitions to a payout.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter! Check out our YouTube channel.
And of course, you can follow Gadgets & Wearables on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.
