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Doctor sues Apple over patented heartbeat-monitoring technology

By Cookie Monster - on 30 Dec 2019, 12:00am

Doctor sues Apple over patented heartbeat-monitoring technology

ECG works right out of the box with the new Apple Watch Series 5.

Apple is being sued by a New York university cardiologist over a patented heartbeat-monitoring invention.

Dr. Joseph Wiesel filed a lawsuit against Apple in a federal court and claims the Apple Watch infringes his patent for a method to detect irregular heartbeat. According to Wiesel, his invention covers "pioneering steps" in atrial fibrillation detection by tracking "irregular pulse rhythms from a succession of time intervals."

Wiesel contacted Apple in September 2017 and provided information about his patent, but he said Apple "refused to negotiate in good faith to avoid this lawsuit." He is requesting the court to order Apple to pay him royalties, and if Apple does not, he wants to block it from using his invention without permission.

The Apple Watch can provide heart rate notifications from Series 1 or later. Irregular rhythm notifications are not available in all markets and Apple Watch models must run on watchOS 5.1.2 or later. The Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5 have built-in electrodes in the Digital Crown and the back of the watch to measure electrical signals across the heart when used with the Heart Rate app or ECG app.

Source: Bloomberg

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