2022年12月15日

AliveCor声称，苹果公司在其Apple Watch内置心电图技术的设计上侵犯了其专利。美国专利和商标局认为，AliveCor指控苹果侵犯其心电图技术的所有三项指控都“不可专利”。AliveCor称，Apple Watch内置的心脏监测技术与AliveCor的KardiaBand解决方案中使用的传感器类似，可以监测不规则心跳并帮助诊断。但据路透社报道，在12月6日的裁决中，该机构的专利审判和上诉委员会(PTAB)表示，一个在心脏监测技术领域具有“普通技能”的人可以构建相同的解决方案，这使得AliveCor的主张过于明显，无法获得专利。KardiaBand是一款Apple watch的表带和连接应用程序，可为佩戴者产生心电图读数，于2017年获得FDA批准。一年后，苹果公司获得了内置心电图技术的许可，不再需要KardiaBand，这导致AliveCor停止销售。AliveCor于2020年12月起诉专利侵权。该公司还单独提起了一项反垄断诉讼，指控苹果垄断了苹果手表(Apple Watch)心脏监测应用程序在美国的市场。该公司在所有提交的文件中要求美国禁止进口侵犯其心电图技术的苹果手表。AliveCor在给HCB News的一份声明中表示，“对这一决定深感失望，强烈反对”，并计划上诉。“PTAB的决定不会影响AliveCor正在进行的业务。 We will continue to design and distribute our best-in-class portable ECG products and services to our customers.” It also plans to continue its ongoing case against Apple that it filed in 2021 with the International Trade Commission over the same claims. It says it is “cautiously optimistic” following the ITC’s initial conclusion in June that said Apple had indeed violated two of the patents. Should the conclusion be the same in its final decision on December 12, it could potentially lead to an import ban on Apple Watches in the U.S. Earlier this month, Apple filed a lawsuit accusing AliveCor of infringing on its own patents for innovations in its heart-rate sensing, health data collection and other connected health tools, according to Reuters . It claims that some of those technologies were developed as far back as 2008, before AliveCor was founded in 2011. AliveCor has called this “a desperate last-ditch effort by Apple to bully AliveCor into submission just days before the ITC decision.”