In the last few hours the news has arrived for which Apple Watch risks being banned in the US. A judge ruled that Apple infringed AliveCor’s electrocardiogram patents. For this reason, US President Biden confirmed the decision to ban Apple Watch. But will this really happen?
Did Apple Watch really infringe ECG patents and therefore banned from US?
What happened to the smartwatch signed Apple, or the patent infringement related to AliveCor’s electrocardiogram, led President Biden to want to ban the product. But it seems very unlikely as a decision.
Despite this, the decision of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to block imports of Apple Watch received the green light from the Biden administration. However, this ban will probably only be reserved for Apple Watches that actually have the problem.
For anyone wondering, yes, the Apple Watch since Series 4 is capable of performing an EKG to see if the user’s heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation.
The problems don’t end there. In 2022, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office determined that the three AliveCor patents at the center of the dispute are invalid because they are “not patentable”. AliveCor appealed and the ITC suspended the Apple Watch import ban in the United States until the appeal is completed.
If AliveCor wins its appeal to the Patent Office, the ITC could permanently ban the import of Apple Watch into the United States, since it is assembled abroad. But realistically, that’s very unlikely.
Instead, if AliveCor wins, the more likely scenario is that Apple agrees to pay AliveCor a patent license. Everything that has happened so far is an elaborate form of negotiation about how much that compensation will be. Apple claims it should be zero dollars, but AliveCor wants as high as possible, of course.