Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Apple in Heart-Monitoring Dispute

Apple just avoided a lawsuit that accused the company of copying heart-monitoring technology from startup AliveCor, after a federal judge ruled in Apple’s favor.  Although details of the decision are sealed because of confidentiality concerns by both companies, a “light” version of the ruling will be public within a few weeks.

The dispute was based on a 2015 meeting between AliveCor co-founder David Albert and Apple. Albert was invited by Apple to display his heart-monitoring device called the KardiaBand. Albert was told that Apple wanted to collaborate on the technology. The companies were said to have talked over an 18-month period, after which Apple announced its own heart initiative for the Apple Watch OS. AliveCor said that no other service was allowed to offer heart-rate monitoring on the Apple Watch, which Apple denied.

AliveCor plans to appeal the decision. There are other pending patent claims against Apple by AliveCor.