(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. doesn’t have to face a lawsuit alleging that its smartwatch copied heart-monitoring technology from Alivecall, a startup backed by Khosla Ventures LLC, a federal judge rules. .
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U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, ruled in favor of Apple on Tuesday. Details of the decision were submitted in strict confidence due to company confidentiality concerns. An edited version will be published in the coming weeks.
Apple said in a statement: “The AliveCor lawsuit challenged Apple’s ability to improve critical features of the Apple Watch that consumers and developers rely on, and today’s results show that it is not anticompetitive. This confirms that there is no such thing.”
AliveCor said it “deeply regrets” the decision and plans to appeal. “We continue to vigorously protect our intellectual property to benefit consumers and foster innovation,” the company said in a statement.
The controversy was based on a 2015 conference where AliveCor co-founder David Albert was invited by Apple executives to show off a heart monitoring device called KardiaBand. AliveCor claims that Albert was told by the iPhone maker that it would be collaborating with them on technical matters.
Apple said the conference was similar to hundreds of other conferences it has hosted with developers, and there was no pretense of partnership.
Read more: Apple faces off against billionaire Khosla in Goliath-versus-Goliath technology lawsuit
After 18 months of talks between the two companies, and in a “clear attempt to steal AliveCor’s thunder,” Apple announced that the Apple Watch would be released just hours after AliveCor notified Apple of the official launch date for the KardiaBand. It is reported that the company has announced its own approach to heart health. Complaints.
In subsequent years, as Apple updated the Watch operating system, other services were not allowed to offer heart rate monitoring on its devices, due to the company’s “intensive campaign to corner the market.” AliveCor alleges in its antitrust complaint. Apple has denied the allegations and said it has allowed third-party apps to use its heart rate sensor technology since 2015.
AliveCor said other patent claims against Apple are still in litigation.
The case is AliveCor v. Apple, 21-cv-03958, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).
–With assistance from Malathi Nayak and Mark Gurman.
(Updates with comment from Apple.)
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