Apple Wins Antitrust Appeal Against AliveCor Over Apple Watch Heart Rhythm Data

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a summary judgment in favor of Apple, rejecting antitrust claims brought by medical device maker AliveCor. The decision effectively dismantles the allegation that Apple monopolized the market for heart rhythm analysis apps by restricting access to specific Apple Watch data.



AliveCor, which introduced the KardiaBand accessory in 2016, sued Apple under the Sherman Act. The dispute hinged on a 2018 update to watchOS that changed how the device calculates heart rates. Apple introduced a new "Heart Rate Neural Network" (HRNN) and subsequently stopped providing third-party developers with data from the older "Heart Rate Path Optimizer" (HRPO). AliveCor argued that its SmartRhythm feature relied on that specific legacy data to detect atrial fibrillation and that cutting off access was an anticompetitive move intended to disable rival software.


While a lower court previously sided with Apple by categorizing the change as a product improvement, the appeals panel took a different route. The judges analyzed the situation under the "refusal to deal" doctrine. Antitrust laws generally do not force businesses to cooperate with competitors, and exceptions are rare. To win, AliveCor needed to prove that the withheld data was an "essential facility" required to compete.

The court rejected that argument. The judges pointed out that Apple's own competing feature, Irregular Rhythm Notification, doesn't use the disputed HRPO data. Because Apple competes in the market using only the newer algorithms, the panel determined that the legacy data isn't actually essential for a competitor to survive.

Today's decision deals strictly with the antitrust allegations, separating it from the extensive patent warfare the two companies have waged for years. AliveCor previously secured a determination of patent infringement at the ITC, but Apple recently defeated that bid to block Watch imports after a federal court upheld the invalidation of the underlying patents.

Writing for the panel, the judges emphasized that forcing Apple to share the data would run counter to the goals of antitrust law, potentially reducing the incentive to innovate.


Notably, the Apple Watch Series 11 is on sale for $299 today, it's lowest price ever. You can grab the deal here. You can also track price history and get price drop alerts using our Apple Watch Price Tracker.