Tech giant Apple has contracted the former chairwoman of the U.S. International Trade Commission ahead of a decision from President Joe Biden on a possible ban of Apple Watches.
In December, the ITC ruled that Apple had infringed on the patents of AliveCor, a medical device company. Unless vetoed by Biden, the commission’s ruling could lead to an import ban on Apple Watch models.
In response to the ITC’s ruling, Apple has contracted Shara Aranoff, a lobbyist who chaired the ITC under former President Barack Obama, according to the Hill.
“Apple has unlimited resources,” AliveCor CEO Priya Abani said. “They’re gonna go after everyone they can get and that’s what they’re doing. We are just a startup.”
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Biden needs to decide by Monday if he will veto the ITC’s ruling or let the dispute between AliveCor and Apple continue in court.
AliveCor has accused Apple in lawsuits of stealing its technology on wearable electrocardiograms, claiming the small company had first shared the technology with Apple in 2015. A few years later in 2018, Apple launched an Apple Watch with a built-in electrocardiogram sensor while also making third-party heart monitoring software incompatible with the product, leading to AliveCor to cancel any sales of its product that used the technology.
“We come up with new technologies, and instead of the ecosystem letting us thrive and continue to build on top of the innovations we already have, Apple cuts us out up front, steals our technology, uses their platform power to scale it, and now is basically saying it’s scaled so it can’t be cut off,” Abani said.
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Aranoff was hired by Apple in early January and has been at work lobbying on trade, intellectual property, and health issues, according to a document filed with Congress last month.
