Apple Watches have been sued for violating a patent from another company. The US president has vowed not to veto the ruling that could lead to his ban.
Apple is in trouble. A company called AliveCor sued the Cupertinos for an electrocardiogram (ECG) technology that has been added to the Apple Watch . And the case is so serious that not even the president of the United States, Joe Biden, will interfere in the decision of the corresponding entities.
According to AliveCor itself , Biden has decided “not to veto the ruling” that was promulgated in December by the International Trade Commission (ITC) and that could prohibit the import of the Apple Watch Series 4 and later to the company.
The case
AliveCor alleges that it shared ECG sensor technology with Apple in 2015 while building a business relationship.
The small company of just 150 workers points out that, in 2018, such information was released on the Apple Watch Series 4, where it not only introduced said sensors, but also blocked external heart monitoring applications.
AliveCor said this forced it in 2019 to stop selling the KardiaBand, an ECG band the company announced for the Apple Watch in 2016.
“We create new technologies, and instead of the ecosystem allowing us to thrive and continue to build on the innovations we already have, Apple kills us up front, steals our technology, uses the power of its platform to scale it, and now basically says it’s scaled so it can’t be hacked,” said AliveCor CEO Priya Abani.
Opinion and appeals
Last December, the ITC ruled that Apple actually did infringe AliveCor .
The startup is now appealing the ruling with the US Patent and Trademark Office because it has been denied up to three additional patents in question.
Biden’s decision not to veto the ITC’s ruling against Apple differs from the last time the company faced such a ban by the government agency. In 2013, the ITC called for a ban on iPhones and iPads because Apple infringed Samsung patents, but then-US President Barack Obama vetoed the ban, after pressure from “telephone carriers and a coalition bipartisan legislators.
Due to the multiple avenues that lie ahead, the Apple Watch injunctions may not take effect for 18 months.