The antitrust lawsuit filed by AliveCor against Apple in 2021 has been dismissed, as the judge ruled in favor of Apple today, issuing a summary judgment.
The complete decision is not public due to privacy requests from both Apple and AliveCor, but it is evident that the ruling favored Apple, as the court did not find evidence of anticompetitive behavior by the Cupertino company. AliveCor alleged that its “SmartRhythm” app, which worked with the ECG KardiaBand, was targeted multiple times by Apple for violating App Store rules. Furthermore, it was rendered ineffective by changes to the Apple Watch heart rhythm algorithm in watchOS 5. With the launch of watchOS 5, Apple introduced its heart rate neural network (HRNN) to calculate heart rate during exercise. AliveCor claimed Apple modified the algorithm to impact the KardiaBand and requested Apple to continue supporting the older, less accurate technology that worked with the SmartRhythm software. The company argued that the change in watchOS 5 aimed to prevent third-party apps from detecting heart rate, eliminating competition and consumer choice in heart rate analysis. AliveCor sought damages and an injunction requiring Apple to support the old heartbeat system. Apple contended that AliveCor did not have the authority to dictate its innovations and that requiring support for the old heartbeat technology would involve the court in Apple’s day-to-day operations. The court ultimately ruled in favor of Apple. In response, Apple stated to MacRumors that AliveCor’s lawsuit challenged its ability to enhance Apple Watch technology and thanked the court for its decision, while AliveCor expressed disappointment and announced plans to appeal. AliveCor is deeply disappointed by the court’s decision to dismiss the antitrust case and intends to appeal, emphasizing its commitment to protect intellectual property and promote innovation in providing ECG products and services to customers. The company clarified that the dismissal order does not impact its ongoing business and confirmed its intention to continue developing and delivering high-quality ECG products and services. Meanwhile, the determination of Apple’s infringement of AliveCor’s patents by the International Trade Commission (ITC) is pending, and appeals related to ITC and US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions are set for review by the Federal Circuit in the Northern District of California in the coming months. Additionally, the PTAB recently ruled in favor of AliveCor in initiating an Inter Partes Review (IPR) of Apple’s patents. AliveCor has also brought patent infringement lawsuits against Apple for alleged replication of its heart recognition and analytics technology. It is important to note that these cases are distinct from the recent antitrust decision.
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