When I became CEO of AliveCor, a health tech startup dedicated to heart health, little did I know that we would spend years engaged in a legal fight to protect our intellectual property from one of the largest companies in the world. But our David vs. Goliath battle against Apple has even reached President Joe Biden’s desk–and, now, the halls of Congress.
Some people ask me why we haven’t given up, given Apple’s massive war chest and well-documented history of copying other firms’ ideas. As The Washington Post once reported, “Some apps have simply buckled under the pressure.”
But this isn’t just about us. It’s about the entire tech ecosystem. It’s a question of whether startups–and small businesses of all kinds–can stand up for their rights and win. And because we focus specifically on health tech, it’s no exaggeration to say that when it comes to technologies developed by companies like ours, lives hang in the balance.
Here’s what the case is all about, in a nutshell. AliveCor pioneered electrocardiogram technologies (ECG) for smartphones and smartwatches. In 2016 we launched KardiaBand, an FDA-cleared, medical-grade wearable ECG. The responses were wonderful, with people saying it helped to transform their health and their lives. But two years later, Apple announced that it had created its own technology–and made its new watches incompatible with a central feature of KardiaBand.
Equipped with patents, scientific reports, and other evidence, we fought back. Since then, Apple has tried all sorts of maneuvers to fend us off, including bombarding us with expensive litigation. Nevertheless, we’ve been winning before the International Trade Commission (ITC). The agency’s role includes investigating and making determinations involving intellectual property (IP) rights in such cases.
The ITC found Apple to be in violation of the IP protecting our vital heart monitoring technology. As a result, the commission ultimately called for a ban on Apple importing its infringing watches into the United States. The corporate behemoth tried to get President Biden to veto that ban, but fortunately, he declined to do so.
We’re not alone in this kind of fight. Another medical technology company, Masimo, has been engaged in a similar battle, and also won before the ITC. Again, Biden refused to veto an Apple Watch import ban.
But rather than attempt to rectify its wrongs, Apple is trying to use its lobbying power to change the ITC. The company is lobbying Congress to “make some patent owners ineligible to bring complaints before the ITC,” and seeking “to influence the language of committee reports that could affect how the agency levels punishments.”
Apple is also trying another desperate, last-ditch effort. It got the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate some of our patents, but we’re confident that our appeal will reverse that decision.
Apple is attempting to argue that an ITC ban on Apple Watch imports would deprive people of a device that is crucial to their health. However, the commission has previously dismissed this argument as inaccurate. In fact, the opposite is true: Allowing Apple to get away with continued infringement will kill innovation and endanger people’s health.
Health tech startups rely on investor funding to save lives. People are willing to invest in these new ideas because they expect that some will succeed, so they’ll recoup their investments and see a future payoff.
If large corporations can simply copy these technologies, then investors will lose the confidence and incentive to provide funding at various stages. Investors and small business leaders need to know that the rules fairly and reliably protect the Davids in the same way that they protect the Goliaths.
Our battle against Apple has always taken place on an uneven field. The intervention of Congress on Apple’s behalf would make things even worse. President Biden stood up to Apple’s bullying tactics–and Congress should do the same.
Priya Abani is the CEO of AliveCor.
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