NYU cardiologist sues Apple over heart-monitoring tech

A New York-based cardiologist is suing Apple over the tech that allows the Apple Watch to detect irregular heart rhythms.

In the lawsuit, filed last week at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Wiesel argued that the heart monitoring tech featured in the Apple Watch was covered by his US patent (number 7,020,514).

Wiesel, a cardiologist at New York University’s school of medicine, said that he had contacted Apple in 2017 informing them of his patent rights, but that the technology company had refused to enter licensing discussions.

The NYU doctor filed the ‘514 patent covering methods of atrial fibrillation detection in 1999. Atrial fibrillation refers to irregular heart rhythms, which can be indicative of serious health problems.

According to Wiesel, he realised early in his career that there were a lack of reliable methods of screening for atrial fibrillation.

His patent describes a method and device which is capable of detecting whether a heart rate pulse is regular or not.

According to Wiesel, these innovations were “pioneering steps in atrial fibrillation detection”.

Apple introduced the pulse monitoring feature to the Apple Watch in December 2018 with the release of the series 4 model.

The feature was also made available to previous models of the watch via a software upgrade.

Wiesel is now seeking a permanent injunction barring Apple from infringing the patent, as well as royalties and treble damages.

LSIPR has contacted Apple for comment in response to the lawsuit.

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