In the latest twist in a battle between Apple and medical device company AliveCor, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a ban preventing Apple from importing all watches that use the hotly contested heart monitoring technology, but said the enforcement of that order will be suspended until appeals over the patents in question have played out.
This can be read as a victory for Apple, which will be able to conduct its business as usual while other elements of the dispute are resolved.
Momentum has been tilting in Apple’s favor in recent weeks. In April 2021, AliveCor complained to the commission that heart monitoring technologies released in the Apple Watch in 2018 infringed on its patents. AliveCor in 2017 released a product called the KardiaBand with similar capabilities. In June, an ITC judge found that Apple had indeed infringed on two patents, and the case was referred to the whole commission to confirm the violation and to decide on whether to issue an exclusion order, or import ban on infringing products.
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