Another day, another digital heath patent invalidated by the courts. After an International Trade Comission judge invalidated Jawbone patents in May and a federal judge invalidated American Well patents in June, now another ITC judge has nixed a number of Fitbit patents, likely on the same grounds. Bloomberg broke the news.
Those closely following the sprawling legal drama of Fitbit and Jawbone will recall that, in September, Fitbit sued Jawbone in a Delaware court over several patents, responding to Jawbone’s suit against Fitbit which concerned both patents and alleged trade secret theft. A similar fight has played out in parallel at the International Trade Commission, which has the power to block imports into the US, effectively crippling the losing company’s ability to deliver products to the US market.
In a sealed decision that is not currently available to the public or journalists, judge Thomas B. Pender ruled three Fitbit patents invalid and terminated this particular investigation, but the ITC is also weighing a suit brought by Jawbone against Fitbit that alleges Fitbit infringed on Jawbone’s trade secrets.
