Judge Rules in Favor of Apple in Apple Watch ECG Antitrust Lawsuit

The judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple by AliveCor back in 2021 today filed a summary judgment in Apple’s favor.

While the full ruling is unavailable due to confidentiality requests from both Apple and AliveCor, the filing was clearly in Apple’s favor, and the Apple Watch maker was not found to have engaged in anticompetitive actions.

AliveCor’s lawsuit alleged that Apple had repeatedly targeted the company’s SmartRhythm companion app for its ECG KardiaBand for App Store violations. The company also claimed the app was rendered non-functional by a change to the Apple Watch heart rhythm algorithm in watchOS 5.

Apple’s launch of watchOS 5 introduced the Cupertino firm’s heart rate neural network (HRNN) that improved heart rate calculations during workouts. Following the launch, AliveCor claimed Apple had changed the algorithm simply to impact the KardiaBand. The firm also demanded that Apple continue to provide support for the older (and less accurate) technology that worked with the KardiaBand.

AliveCor claimed that Apple’s changes in watchOS 5 were made solely to prevent third-party apps from identifying irregular heart rhythms. The smaller company claimed that the update was intended to eliminate competition and that it deprived consumers of “choice for heart rate analysis.”

AliveCor was asking for damages, as well as an injunction requiring Apple to “cease its abusive conduct” and continue to provide support for the older heart rate algorithm.

For its part, Apple argued that AliveCor did not have the right to dictate its design decisions and that the KardiaBand maker’s request to maintain support for the older technology would require the court to become a day-to-day monitor over how Apple engineers its products.

Apple made a statement to MacRumors, saying the following:

At Apple, our teams are constantly innovating to create products and services that empower users with health, wellness, and life-saving features. AliveCor’s lawsuit challenged Apple’s ability to improve important capabilities of the Apple Watch that consumers and developers rely on, and today’s outcome confirms that is not anticompetitive. We thank the Court for its careful consideration of this case, and will continue to protect the innovations we advance on behalf of our customers against meritless claims.

As you might imagine, AliveCor told the publication that it is disappointed with the court’s decision and will appeal it.

AliveCor is deeply disappointed and strongly disagrees with the court’s decision to dismiss our anti-competition case and we plan to appeal. We will continue to vigorously protect our intellectual property to benefit our consumers and promote innovation. The dismissal decision does not impact AliveCor’s ongoing business; we will continue to design and provide the best portable ECG products and services to our customers.

Today’s decision does not end the legal battle between AliveCor and Apple, as the KardiaBand manufacturer also has an ongoing patent infringement lawsuit against Apple that claims the Apple Watch maker has copied its cardiological detection and analysis technology.

Although the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in AliveCor’s favor, which nearly resulted in an Apple Watch ban in early 2023, Apple won a separate case with the US Commerce Department’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that declared the relevant AliveCor patents invalid. Both companies are appealing the ITC and PTAB decisions.

Comment

Separately, the ITC’s findings that Apple has infringed AliveCor’s patents still stand. Both the ITC and U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) appeals will be reviewed at the Federal Circuit in the Northern District of California in the coming months. In other recent developments, the PTAB recently ruled in AliveCor’s favor by instituting Inter Partes Review (IPR) of Apple’s patents and a stay of Apple’s countersuit.