GoPro tries using patent courts to block Insta360 – and both sides claim a win!

Both Insta360 and GoPro have been rushing to clarify the meaning of a ruling by a single (US) judge on the International Trade Commission (ITC) that will have no effect on the availability of Insta360 products. So what's the story – and is there anything to worry about?

According to GoPro, via a press release shared by its investor relations team, the company is pleased the judge found "that Insta360 infringed on a patent covering GoPro's iconic Hero camera design (US Patent D789,435)" and two covering HyperSmooth video stabilization (US Patent 10,574,894 and 10,958,840).

Worryingly for users of any brand except GoPro, it seems that the company is gaining sympathy for patents that essentially argue that GoPro can exclusively have control over the idea of action cameras and electronic image stabilization.

Except that Insta360 also issued a press release saying something rather different (UPDATE: and it seems to be backed up by an ITC document I've seen, Inv. No. 337-TA-1400 ).

It said that the administrative law judge in question "ruled that that [sic] GoPro's five utility patents relating to stabilization, horizon leveling, distortion, and aspect ratio conversion are invalid, not infringed, or both."

Now I might not love the repetition of the same word, but as a consumer I am quite sympathetic to the statement that followed it from JK Liu, founder of Insta360 (who has just done very nicely out of the Insta360's flotation).

"While GoPro sought to block competition by asserting a wide array of patents, the majority of those claims were either found not to be infringed or ruled invalid," he said. That speaks volumes… we will not be deterred by legal maneuvering aimed at protecting market share rather than consumers."

Which would be great. If it were true. But is it?

In practice, I'm not really expecting to actually know anything from this case until November 10 at the earliest, and the main thing I can determine from this is that GoPro has long needed to convince worried stockholders that things are going well, and now Insta360 has to play a similar game.

Until then, there is no restriction on Insta360 product availability in the USA. At that point, the full Commission will give an answer. The question was originally brought to the ITC by GoPro in 2024 in the form of a complaint, and it is seeking cease and desist orders on Insta360 products.

The only patent found both infringed and valid is a design patent (D789,435), basically the case/shell/body of a GoPro. Insta360 tell me it has already implemented design updates that fall outside its scope.

In the past, some of GoPro's claims would seem reasonably "optimistic" – and, as mentioned, there is an incentive to provide hope to shareholders. Given DJI's current legal woes – another Chinese competitor that seems to have fallen foul largely of offering better tech than American companies for lower prices – it's hard to be certain.

(DJI, by the way, is still available to consumers in the US, but is depending on having a review by a government agency undertaken before the end of 2025. Of course, it has not yet been started. If it is not, an automatic ban on future product approvals will kick in.)

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Read about Insta360's most famous cameras in our guide to the best 360 cameras – and see if GoPro has managed to give it anything to worry about. Also check our guide to the best action cameras, which pits the 8K offering from Insta360 against the best GoPro can manage. Spoiler – it's not as high...