What you need to know
- Apple is being sued by ECG company AliveCor.
- AliveCor claims Apple infringes on three patents it holds.
- It is seeking to stop Apple from selling the Apple Watch in the U.S.
ECG company AliveCor is suing Apple over claims it infringes on three patents held by the company due to ECG technology in devices like the Apple Watch Series 6.
The company announced yesterday:
AliveCor, the global leader in FDA-cleared personal electrocardiogram (ECG) technology and services, today announced that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging Apple's infringement of three AliveCor patents. Starting in 2011, AliveCor has invested heavily in bringing advanced, AI-powered cardiological detection technology to consumer users
AliveCor notes a federal lawsuit it filed over the same issue in December:
In December 2020, AliveCor filed a federal lawsuit alleging Apple infringement of the same patents. AliveCor contends that Apple Inc. is infringing AliveCor's asserted patents through the sale of Apple watches that employ infringing functionality. Filing in the ITC "is one step, among others, AliveCor is taking to obtain relief for Apple's intentional copying of AliveCor's patented technology—including the ability to take an ECG reading on the Apple Watch, and to perform heartrate analysis—as well as Apple's efforts to eliminate AliveCor as competition in the heartrate analysis market for the Apple Watch."
Patently Apple reports the company is seeking a ban on U.S. imports of the Apple Watch, which would preclude the device from being sold in the country if the case is successful.
Apple's ECG feature is on the way to users in Vietnam and Australia with watchOS 7.4, the beta of which was seeded yesterday.
