Fitbit Scores Against Jawbone in Patent Dispute
April 29 2016 - 8:09PM
Dow Jones News
By Georgia Wells
A fight between two of the largest makers of fitness trackers
just got smaller.
In a ruling released Thursday, the U.S. International Trade
Commission in Washington invalidated the last of the patents that
AliphCom Inc.'s Jawbone said its rival Fitbit Inc. had infringed
upon, lifting uncertainty around the sale of Fitbit products in the
U.S.
The invalidated patents covered sleep monitoring and data
output. Judge Dee Lord said these patents "seek a monopoly on the
abstract ideas of collecting and monitoring sleep and other
health-related data, and are therefore ineligible."
The two San Francisco companies sell wearable fitness trackers
for users' wrists and clothing that monitor activity. The devices
are part of a fast-growing segment of consumer electronics that
includes Apple Inc.'s Apple Watch.
The complaint Jawbone filed last July sought to halt U.S.
imports of Fitbit's wearable devices. The ITC said Jawbone could
still pursue claims that Fitbit allegedly stole trade secrets.
"The two patents that are the subject of the ITC ruling
represent only a portion of Jawbone's case against Fitbit and a
small subset of Jawbone's overall patent portfolio," Jawbone said
in a statement. The company said it plans to appeal the patent
ruling.
Fitbit declined to comment.
Judge Lord based the ruling on a Supreme Court decision from
2014 that said companies can't claim software patents for abstract
ideas without inventive concepts. She previously ruled other
Jawbone patents were invalid for the same reason.
The two companies are also suing each other in other courts.
Jawbone sued Fitbit for patent infringement in federal court in San
Francisco in 2015. Fitbit has also sued Jawbone in federal courts
in San Francisco and Wilmington, Del., for allegedly infringing its
patents over the technology underpinning its device. The cases are
pending.
On May 9, the two sides will meet at the trade commission for a
hearing about Jawbone's trade secrets. Jawbone alleged that Fitbit
implemented a plan last year to "decimate Jawbone by hiring away
key employees and stealing trade secrets."
Jawbone said Fitbit contacted an estimated 30% of Jawbone's
workers and ultimately hired five, who then allegedly took 18,000
of Jawbone's confidential digital files to Fitbit.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2016 19:54 ET (23:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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