U.S. ITC: Apple Watches with ECG infringe AliveCor patents, but import ban on hold

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) affirmed on Thursday that Apple Watches with an electrocardiogram (ECG) function infringe patents belonging to medical device maker AliveCor Inc., patents that the the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have found to be invalid, no less.
Apple Watch’s ECG app
Blake Brittain for Reuters:

The ITC said imports of the infringing watches should be banned, but that it would not enforce a ban until appeals were finished in a separate dispute before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where a panel found AliveCor’s patents invalid earlier this month.

MacDailyNews Take: Oh no, Apple “infringes” on invalid patents. In related news, the ITC found Apple’s Clarus the Dogcow is an “inaccurate” representation of a dog-cow hybrid, which, like AliveCor’s patents, also doesn’t exist.

Apple said in a statement that it “firmly” disagreed with the ITC decision but was pleased that the import ban was paused.
AliveCor accused Apple last year of infringing three patents related to its KardiaBand, an Apple Watch accessory that monitors a user’s heart rate, detects irregularities and performs an ECG to identify heart problems like atrial fibrillation.

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in May 2021:
The fact is that AliveCor sells a bunch of finger-pad devices that cost more, are less convenient, and more likely to get lost versus an Apple Watch that’s strapped to your wrist. AliveCor is losing because their ECG solutions are less elegant, larger, bulkier than simply wearing an Apple Watch Series 4 (released in September 2018) or later with ECG.
There a reason why founding CEO, and former Google exec, Vic Gundotra left AliveCor in February 2018: The company has no real future as currently constructed.
Can’t compete? Litigate.
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