Apple News: Why An NYU Cardiologist Is Suing The Tech Giant For Royalties

Dr. Joseph Wiesel, a cardiologist and instructor at the NYU School of Medicine, has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the Apple Watch utilizes heartbeat-monitoring technology that he owns the patent for, which focuses on detecting irregularities.

The suit accuses Apple of copyright infringement and seeks royalties for compensation, or to block the company from using the technology without permission. Wiesel claims that he reached out to Apple in September 2017 about his patent, which includes methods of detecting atrial fibrillation. The company reportedly “refused to negotiate in good faith to avoid this lawsuit,” the doctor claimed.

Apple has so far not responded to requests to comment in the lawsuit, which is typical for the company.

The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.

Wiesel’s lawsuit is the latest in a recent string of legal action taken against the tech giant. In October, developers of the email app, BlueMail, filed a suit alleging that Apple suppressed the App Store rankings of apps that competed with the company’s own proprietary offerings. The company, Blix, recently submitted newly acquired data related to the case earlier in the month.

Apple has also recently been embroiled in a suit that also targets Dell, Google, Microsoft, and Tesla alleging complicity in the deaths and injuries of Congolese children that mine cobalt the companies use in their products.

In April, a New Jersey resident filed a proposed class-action suit against Apple because the screen for the Apple Watch Series 3 cracked after it detached from the watch's body.