Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Wearables
  3. News

A holiday miracle! Fitbit no longer trying to block Jawbone sales in the U.S.

By

fitbit drops jawbone case alta
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The fat lady has sung. At least, in the case of the Fitbit versus Jawbone battle. Perhaps it was a Christmas miracle, or perhaps it was simply fatigue that led Fitbit to withdraw a year-old patent complaint asserting that Jawbone fitness trackers should be banned for import into the U.S. Actually, scratch that, we know exactly why Fitbit decided to give Jawbone a break this holiday season — its competitor just isn’t doing well financially.

Had Fitbit won its claim against Jawbone, it would have had the effect of ending the wearables’ sales. But to a large degree that has already happened — due to significant money problems, Jawbone has already stopped offering its fitness trackers on its website. “Jawbone appears to be a different company,” Fitbit said in its filing. “SEC filings of one of its biggest investors now value Jawbone shares as worth nothing, as well as indicate that Jawbone has filed for bankruptcy or is in default.”

So it’s not really that Jawbone has won, in this case, but that Fitbit no longer sees it as a worthy opponent. The filing continued, “[Jawbone] no longer offers for sale any of its wearable activity trackers, nor any of its other products. Press reports and other public documents indicate that the demise of Jawbone’s products has created substantial questions regarding Jawbone’s ability to continue to operate.”

Related

As per a third quarter report from the IDC, Jawbone’s market share was negligible, whereas Fitbit sales comprised nearly a quarter of the market. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the fat lady has finished her song when it comes to Jawbone. Keep in mind that the company also manufactures other popular products, including speakers and headphones.

Jawbone has released a statement of its own regarding the latest development in its patent case with Fitbit:

“Fitbit has moved to drop its patent case against Jawbone, which had been set for trial in the International Trade Commission in March. By dismissing this action, Fitbit is no longer seeking to block importation of Jawbone devices, including Jawbone products in development. Jawbone believes this case — involving patents already found once to be invalid — should have been dismissed long ago by Fitbit. Fitbit’s pursuit of these baseless claims for so long was a burden to Jawbone — an issue to be raised in Jawbone’s antitrust claim against Fitbit. Jawbone’s trade secret case in California state court against Fitbit will move forward to a jury trial in 2017.”

So it’s still not over for Jawbone.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
ByteDance CEO confirms U.S. will force TikTok sale
Tik Tok app

In a letter to employees, the CEO of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, appeared to confirm that the company might break off its U.S. operations.

First reported by the Chinese news outlet Pandaily, Zhang’s letter confirmed that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had decided ByteDance must sell TikTok’s U.S. operations.

Read more
U.K., U.S. say Russian hackers are trying to steal coronavirus research
bangladeshi bank heist foiled by spelling mistake internet hacking dark net

Russian hackers are targeting coronavirus vaccine research centers, according to a warning from security officials in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

Security departments from each country released a joint advisory on Thursday about the attempted hacks. The National Security Agency (NSA) said that malicious activity is from the well-known group known as APT29, which also goes by "CozyBear" or "The Dukes."

Read more
U.S. video game industry sets sales record in 1st quarter as players stay home
Nintendo Switch

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected various businesses around the world, but there is at least one industry that has benefited from people staying at home to avoid COVID-19 -- video games.

Total consumer spending on video games in the U.S. for the first quarter of the year set a new record of $10.86 billion, which is 9% higher compared with total spending in the same quarter of 2019, according to a report from The NPD Group.

Read more