President Biden Upholds The ITC’s Alivecor Decision As The Apple Watch Import Ban Looms Dangerously Close

The US International Trade Commission recently granted AliveCor a significant victory by concluding that Apple had violated its patents, in December. AliveCor filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2021, alleging that the tech giant had stolen its ECG technology and violated three of its patents.

On December 23, the ITC formally determined that Apple’s use of the ECG features in the Apple Watch violated AliveCor’s patents. AliveCor was given the victory after Biden declined to veto the ITC’s decision, which was made public today.

We commend President Biden for upholding the ITC’s decision and holding Apple responsible for violating the patents that form the basis of our cutting-edge ECG technology.

It’s uncommon for a president to veto an ITC decision, but in 2013, when a potential import ban on the iPhone and iPad loomed as part of the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung, President Obama did so. Because of this patent infringement, the ITC ruled in December that imports of the Apple Watch should be prohibited.