Apple Defeats Doctor’s Patent Suit Over Heart-Monitoring Tech

Apple Inc. beat a New York cardiologist’s patent infringement suit claiming the Apple Watch uses his technology to detect irregular heartbeats in users.

Dr. Joseph Wiesel’s US Patent No. 7,020,514 is ineligible for protection because it’s directed at an abstract idea and lacks an inventive concept that would make it patent-eligible, Judge Joan Azrack wrote in an order filed Monday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The patent doesn’t go beyond detecting and analyzing data to identify “possible atrial fibrillation” by conventional means, she ruled.

Wiesel also lacks prudential standing to bring the suit ...