For the Federal Circuit, the US Court of Appeals today agreed with the previous decision made by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the US Patent and Trademark Office. The decision found that the three patents owned by the health tech firm Eliver are “incompatible”. As a result, the International Trade Commission (ITC) cannot impose a import ban on the cardiac monitor Apple Watch model in the US
The case started back in 2021 when the Eleiver went to the International Trade Commission (ITC), complaining that Apple violated his three patents, belonging to the heart rate monitoring sensor found on Apple Watch. ITC forced Apple to appeal to PTAB in 2021. PTAB found in favor of Apple that three patents were “unattainable.” Alivecor decided to appeal to that decision. A few weeks later, ITC ruled in favor of Alivecor and said that Apple violated the above patent, which was found to be valid.
Alivecore’s statement said that the company was disappointed and accused PTAB of not going through secondary views that ITC had ruled when it ruled that the patents were valid.
The heart rate monitor measures the number of beats per minute obtained by an apple watch user. If this number is much less or much higher than the preset range created by the user, the device is sent to the user a notice, which may have to see a doctor immediately if its/her heart rate is beyond the predetermined limit.
