In a lawsuit filed April 6, health technology startup Omni MedSci alleges Apple infringed on four of its patents to develop the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, appleinsider reports.
Here are six things to know.
1. The lawsuit was brought by Omni founder Mohammed N. Islam, ScD, and was filed in the Eastern Texas District Court, a jurisdiction known for siding with patent holders, according to appleinsider.
2. The patents in question use an LED light source on a wearable device to take blood measurements. Omni was granted two of the patents in 2017, and the other two in 2018.
3. The lawsuit claims Dr. Islam met with Michael O'Reilly, MD, a medical technology expert on Apple's Health Special Projects team, and two other team members to discuss those patents — which were still considered applications at the time — in June 2014. The Apple Watch was introduced about three months later. However, the lawsuit also notes that Dr. Islam modified the original patents to include more extensive use of "wearable devices" and "LED light sources" about two weeks after the initial meeting with Apple.
4. Dr. Islam claims he met with that team at Apple several other times between 2014 and 2016, but after showing the patents to Apple, the company stopped communications, and any potential partnership talks between the two froze.
5. Dr. Islam alleges Apple took his startup's patent ideas and received approval for two of its own patents that infringed on Omni's, one of which considered the use of light sources to monitor blood glucose levels.
6. Dr. Islam, who is seeking damages and an injunction against the sales of the Apple Watch, previously sued Huawei, Nokia and Verizon for patent infringement.
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