A doctor has launched a lawsuit alleging that Apple is willfully violating a patent surrounding the technologies used in the Apple Watch to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Mike Wuerthele for AppleInsider:
At the heart of the matter is patent 7,020,514. The ‘514 patent, filed for and awarded to Dr. Joseph Wiesel, is called “Method of and apparatus for detecting atrial fibrillation” and was awarded on March 28, 2006.
The originating patent allows patients to use photoplethysmography, essentially what Apple uses in the Apple Watch with the green light and associated sensors, in a non-clinical setting… Dr. Wiesel notified Apple about his patent on September 20, 2017, following the rollout of the Apple Watch Series 3. The suit alleges that Apple refused to negotiate in good faith “even after Dr. Wiesel provided Apple detailed claim charts highlighting the elements of Dr. Wiesel’s patent claims and mapping them to elements of Apple’s Watch products.”
MacDailyNews Take: We highly doubt Apple was notified of a filed patent, then copied it explicitly, ignoring the patent holder.