Patent Board Favors Apple in Afib Technology Dispute

The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) stood with Apple in its complaint that former partner AliveCor’s claims on the technology behind wearable Afib detection were unpatentable. 

In a 60-page ruling, the board weighed expert testimony from Apple on 30 separate claims and found that AliveCor’s claims were unpatentable as “obvious.” In patent law, an invention cannot be patented if a person of “ordinary skill in the art” would find the invention obvious in view of other patents.

The PTAB panel agreed with Apple that after an electrocardiogram (ECG) is measured “it would have been obvious to confirm arrhythmia detection using a machine learning algorithm based on the PPG [photoplethysmography] data, motion sensor data, and/or ECG data.” PPG uses a light source and a photodetector at the surface of skin to measure blood circulation.

AliveCor filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2021 alleging that Apple infringed on its patented technology. In June, the ITC agreed with AliveCor, a decision, which, if affirmed by the full ITC, could lead to a ban on importing Apple watches into the United States. The ITC’s final decision is expected on Dec. 12.