Apple Watch heart rate and ECG sensor
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Apple has filed another patent infringement lawsuit against AliveCor, which claims to be a “groundbreaking innovator” that created the Apple Watch ECG technology it uses AliveCor.
AliveCor and Apple have a history of lawsuits over ECG technologies used in the Apple Watch and the KardiaBand ECG watchband, among other devices. Along with the ongoing battle between ITC and antitrust law, and the original AliveCor lawsuit, Apple has filed another.
Apple filed a complaint with the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday that AliveCor infringes on a combination of four patents. Patent titles range from “Seamlessly Embedded Heart Rate Monitor” to “User Interfaces for Health Monitoring”, covering aspects of the technology behind the Apple Watch sensor.
In addition to allegations of patent infringement, the complaint, first reported by MacRumors, includes an extensive preamble. The one in which Apple claims to be the creator of the technology that AliveCor allegedly uses in its products.
“This is a campaign about innovation, opportunism and speculation that threatens it,” begins Apple, introducing “the cutting-edge, life-changing advances in eHealth that millions of people rely on every day to improve their lives” .
After recounting its various patents related to Apple Watch features, as well as its research and development history, Apple continues that the case is “an entirely different story involving AliveCor and its blatant violation of Apple technology – a technology that Apple has developed over many years.” before AliveCor was born.”
Patent lawsuits as a business strategy
Then Apple talks about AliveCor allegedly using technology he created, before announcing that its legal opponent was “not a commercial success” and was instead “supported by funding from private investors.”
AliveCor's lawsuits, including the ITC complaint, are said to be an attempt to “opportunistically claim its patents against Apple” in response to “its own market failures.”
Apple is “now filing this lawsuit to set a record as to who the true discoverer is and stop AliveCor's rampant infringement that misappropriates Apple's intellectual property,” the complaint reads. “Apple is a trailblazer that researched, developed, and patented core, foundational technologies before AliveCor even existed.”
“The AliveCor lawsuit is nothing less than an attempt to swindle the success of technologies Apple didn’t invent while selling products based on foundational ECG innovations that Apple patented years before AliveCor became famous. .”
Apple is seeking a jury trial and is asking the court to rule that AliveCor infringes on pending patents, as well as an order prohibiting the production and sale of goods using this technology. Apple is also seeking damages in the amount, « sufficient to compensate” the company, interest before and after judgment, attorneys' fees, and any other remedy provided by the court.
