A lawsuit filed in federal court in New York City on Dec. 27 by Joseph Wiesel, MD, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Health, claims the Apple Watch's irregular heartbeat monitoring tool infringes on a patent he holds for similar technology, Bloomberg reports.
In the filing, Dr. Wiesel reportedly said his patented invention took "pioneering steps" in creating a system for atrial fibrillation detection based on monitoring "irregular pulse rhythms from a success of time intervals." He filed the lawsuit to receive royalties from Apple for its use of the alleged copycat technology and to prevent Apple from using the technology without his permission.
Dr. Wiesel claimed in the lawsuit that he first provided Apple with detailed information about his patent in September 2017, Bloomberg reports, but that the company has "refused to negotiate in good faith to avoid this lawsuit."
Apple did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment.