Garmin, Coros Quietly Settle Year-Long Patent War with CardiacSense Over Smartwatch Heart Tech

A complex web of lawsuits between Israeli health-tech company CardiacSense and the major wearable brands Garmin and Coros has quietly concluded following a year of litigation. The dispute was centred on cardiac monitoring technologies used in sports and health wearables, but now appears to have ended with two confidential settlements. Past history and the nature of the specific settlements suggest potentially significant implications for the future of the smartwatch market.

CardiacSense is known for its medical-grade wrist-based heart rate and arrhythmia detection sensors. It has long positioned itself between consumer wearables and regulated medical devices. This is a competitive area where Garmin, Coros and many other wearables companies innovate heavily, leading to this high-stakes dispute.

The Year-Long Legal Front: Key Patent Skirmishes

The legal timeline shows CardiacSense’s aggressive patent strategy :

• Initial Claims (May 2024) –  CardiacSense targets Coros in Texas. Within days, the action expands to include Garmin.
• Escalation (Late 2024) –  Additional complaints filed in California. The patents cover advanced optical sensing and signal processing.
• Garmin Fights Back (Nov 2024) – Garmin launched an inter partes review (IPR) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), challenging the validity of CardiacSense’s core patents (IPR2025-00195).
• Initial Dismissal (April 2025), Re-filed (May 23, 2025) 
• Case Closed (August 2025) – The IPR was marked “terminated—settled.” This was immediately followed by joint motions to dismiss all lawsuits against both Garmin and Coros.

Garmin’s Next Move: How the Settlement Clears the Way for Medical-Grade Features

Garmin has been steadily moving toward regulated health functionality, as evidenced by the FDA-cleared ECG feature in the Venu 2 Plus (2022). Rumoured next-generation Fenix and Venu models are expected to expand this medical-grade layer. This site tentatively expects 2026 to herald the next generation of Garmin Elevate 6, its optical heart rate monitor.

The resolution with CardiacSense removes one potential obstacle to Garmin’s ambitions towards further medical certification and advanced Heart Rate Variability (HRV)-based wellness analytics.

Garmin’s future success will inevitably and increasingly depend on its legal positioning in relation to the numerous existing patents in the space, few of which have yet been tested in court.

A misstep, as demonstrated by Apple with Massimo, can temporarily halt sales, result in negative PR, and worse. So far, Garmin has entirely avoided the most serious of these eventualities.

Typical Secret Settlements: Licensing?

While the settlement details are confidential, the pattern of dismissals suggests that licensing agreements were likely involved. This outcome benefits all parties and is a likely outcome where patents are strong.

Why This IP War Changes Smartwatch Strategies for 2026 and Beyond

CardiacSense’s assertion of its medical-grade IP against sports tech companies highlights a growing, contested overlap that simply will not go away. There are far more medical patents than sports patents; thus, as sports and smartwatches try to become increasingly medically focused, they will inevitably come close to or infringe upon existing patents. For Garmin and Coros, the outcome removes one legal distraction just as both prepare for new product cycles in 2026.

For CardiacSense, the settlement likely validates part of its patent portfolio with the boost from licensing revenue that follows.

Last Updated on 30 January 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.