You know that fighter who gets brutally knocked out, stumbles back to the locker room bleeding, and three months later shows up in the octagon with a completely different style? Yeah. That's exactly what Ultrahuman is doing.
The Indian wearables startup — the ones making those smart rings that track sleep, heart rate, and everything else — got hit with a legal haymaker from Oura, the Finnish company that dominates the smart ring market in the United States. Patent dispute. The good old corporate dirty game where whoever has more lawyers and more cash for litigation calls the shots.
And what did Ultrahuman do? They redesigned the entire ring to work around the patents and get back into the American market.
The Patent Game: The Ring Where Innovation Goes to Die
Let's be real here. Patents were created — in theory — to protect inventors. To make sure the person who had the brilliant idea could profit from it before the copycats moved in.
In practice? Patents have become weapons of corporate warfare. Tools that big companies use to crush smaller competitors. It's the legal equivalent of a 260-pound guy sitting on top of a 130-pound kid.
Oura isn't exactly a giant — it's no Apple, no Google. But in the smart ring niche, it's the king of the hill. Growing revenue, solid user base, and a patent arsenal that covers practically any way you could stick a sensor in a ring and measure something on your finger.
When Ultrahuman tried to enter the American market with a competitive product — and apparently a good one — Oura did what any dominant company does: called the lawyers.
This isn't about technology. It's about territory.
The Redesign: Tactic or Strategy?
Ultrahuman's decision to redesign the product is interesting for several reasons.
First, it shows resilience. Most startups that get hit with a patent suit in the U.S. simply give up on that market. The cost of litigating there is insane — we're talking millions of dollars in legal fees, and the case can drag on for years.
Second, it shows the company understands that without the American market, you're a regional player. You can sell in India, Europe, Asia. But the U.S. is the main arena. That's where the consumer who pays premium lives, where the media that gives you global visibility is, where the investors who write fat checks hang out.
Third — and this is where it gets interesting — redesigning a product to work around patents is an art form. It's not just changing the color of the box. You need engineers who deeply understand both the technology and the legal scope of the patents. It's scalpel work, not sledgehammer work.
What Does This Have to Do With Your Money?
"Dude, I don't give a damn about smart rings," you might be thinking.
Fair. But pay attention to the dynamics here, because they repeat themselves everywhere in the market:
1. Patents as a competitive moat. Warren Buffett talks all the time about moats — the competitive advantages that protect a company. Patents are one of the most powerful moats out there. Oura is using exactly that. If you invest in tech companies and don't look at the patent portfolio, you're driving with your eyes closed.
2. The American market is irreplaceable. Any tech company that can't operate in the U.S. has a growth ceiling. That goes for Ultrahuman, it goes for Huawei, it goes for anyone.
3. The game is dirtier than it looks. That pretty little narrative of "the best technology wins" is a bedtime story for suckers. The best technology with the best legal protection and the best access to capital wins. Everything else is LinkedIn fairy tales.
The Joker's Lesson
There's a scene in The Dark Knight where the Joker says: "If you're good at something, never do it for free."
Ultrahuman is apparently good at making health hardware. But being good isn't enough. You need to be good AND know how to navigate the system. Patents, regulation, distribution, capital — all of that is part of the game.
Will the company manage to get back into the American market with the redesign? Maybe. Will Oura find a new angle to sue them again? Probably.
And that's where the question that actually matters lives: in your portfolio, in your investment decisions, are you only looking at the product — or are you looking at the whole game?
Because the product is just the tip of the iceberg. The real game happens underwater, where nobody sees. And that's where money is made — or destroyed.
