05
Jul
By John Presper

On June 27, 2022, ALJ Cameron Elliot issued a notice of his initial determination ("ID") finding a violation of section 337 in Certain Wearable Electronic Devices with ECG Functionality and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-1266).

By way of background, this investigation is based on an April 20, 2021 complaint filed by AliveCor, Inc. of Mountain View, California (“ALC”) alleging a violation of section 337 by Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, California (“Apple”) in the unlawful importation and/or sale in the U.S. of certain wearable electronic devices with electrocardiogram (ECG) functionality and components thereof by reason of infringement of one or more claims of U.S. Patent No. 10,595,731; U.S. Patent No. 10,638,941; and U.S. Patent No. 9,572,499.  See our May 26, 2021 post for more details regarding the complaint and Notice of Investigation.

According to the notice, ALJ Elliot found a violation of section 337 based on the following conclusions of law:

  1. ALC has proven infringement of claims 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of U.S. Patent No. 10,683,941 by the accused products.
  2. ALC has proven infringement of claims 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, and 16 of U.S. Patent No. 10,595,731 by the accused products.
  3. ALC has not proven infringement of claims 16 or 17 of U.S. Patent No. 9,572,499 by the accused products.
  4. Apple has not proven any claim of U.S. Patent No. 10,683,941 invalid.
  5. Apple has proven claims 1, 8, 12, and 16 of U.S. Patent No. 10,595,731 are invalid as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103, and otherwise has not proven any claim invalid.
  6. Apple has proven claim 17 of U.S. Patent No. 9,572,499 is invalid for lack of patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101, and otherwise has not proven any claim invalid.
  7. ALC has proven the existence of a domestic industry as required by 19 U.S.C. § 1337(a)(2) for U.S. Patent Nos. 10,683,941, 10,595,731, and 9,572,499, in that it has proven that a domestic industry exists that practices at least one valid claim of each patent.
  8. There is a violation of section 337 with respect to U.S. Patent No. 10,683,941.
  9. There is a violation of section 337 with respect to U.S. Patent No. 10,595,731.
  10. There is no violation of section 337 with respect to U.S. Patent No. 9,572,499.

We will post the public version of the ID when it becomes available.