Apple has won a legal battle with AliveCor, which has declared several patents invalid

CTOnews.com, December 7 (Xinhua)-- the Patent trial and Appeals Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office today invalidated three AliveCor patents mentioned by AliveCor when it sued Apple for infringement to the International Trade Commission, which is a victory for Apple. These patents relate to the heart rate monitoring technology used in AliveCor products.

AliveCor filed a complaint with ITC (International Trade Center) in April 2021, accusing Apple of infringing several of its patents on Apple Watch, and a judge at ITC finally ruled in favor of AliveCor in June. ITC made a preliminary ruling that Apple infringed AliveCor's patented technology, and Apple is currently appealing. If the final ruling finds that Apple infringes the patent, ITC may impose an import ban on Apple Watch.

CTOnews.com learned that Apple later requested a review of the claims used by AliveCor against its three patents, and the Appeals Board of the US Patent and Trademark Office held that a number of claims in US Patent No. 10638941, US Patent No. 10595731 and US Patent No. 9572499 were "considered non-patentable."

In a statement to MacRumors, Apple said the decision confirmed that the patents used by AliveCor to deal with Apple's ITC ban were invalid.

When a patent is declared invalid, it means that there can be no infringement of the patent, which will be considered in the final decision of the ITC. ITC will decide later in December whether an import ban should be imposed on Apple Watch.

AliveCor and Apple are locked in a number of legal battles because AliveCor also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, while Apple sued AliveCor for patent infringement.