Overview
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on January 8 affirmed summary judgment for Apple, rejecting AliveCor’s monopolization claims tied to Apple Watch rhythm-analysis apps.
- Judges held that Apple’s watchOS changes and its decision to stop providing the older heart-rate algorithm’s output constituted a lawful refusal to deal.
- The panel found the sought data was not an essential facility and noted that developers still have access to the heart-rate data used by Apple’s Irregular Rhythm Notification through existing APIs.
- The decision follows the 2025 invalidation of AliveCor’s heart-monitoring patents by the PTAB, upheld on appeal, which removed the risk of an Apple Watch import ban at the ITC.
- Apple described the outcome as consistent with product improvements focused on accuracy and safety, and AliveCor had not issued a public response at the time of reporting.