Julie Clover
The US Patent and Trademark Board of Appeals today invalidated three AliveCor patents that AliveCor used in its complaint with the International Trade Commission, a victory for Apple. All patents are related to the heart rate monitoring technology used in AliveCor products.
AliveCor filed a complaint with the ITC in April 2021 alleging that Apple infringed several of its patents with the Apple Watch, and an ITC judge ultimately As a result, in June the decision was made in favor of AliveCor. At the time, the ITC issued an initial determination that Apple had infringed AliveCor's patent technology, which Apple is now appealing. If the final judgment finds that Apple has infringed the patents, the ITC may impose an import ban on the Apple Watch.
Apple has asked for a review of claims under three patents that AliveCor has used against it, and the USPTO Board of Appeals found that several claims in U.S. Patent #10,638,941, U.S. Patent #10,595,731, and U.S. Patent #9,572,499 are “deemed unpatentable.”
In a filing with MacRumors, Apple said that the ruling confirms that the patents used by AliveCor v. Apple for an ITC injunction are invalid.
We are grateful to the Board of Patents and Appeals for carefully reviewing these invalid patents. Apple teams work tirelessly to create products and services that enhance the user experience, including industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that we've independently designed and built into Apple Watch. Today's ruling confirms that the patents claimed by AliveCor in ITC against Apple are invalid.
When a patent is invalidated, it means that there can be no patent infringement that will affect ITC's final decision. Later in December, the ITC will decide whether to impose an import ban.
AliveCor and Apple are involved in several legal battles as AliveCor also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and Apple sued AliveCor for patent infringement. .
Tags: Patent lawsuits, AliveCor[ 6 comments ]
