As an update to a previous article posted in May, Fitbit and Jawbone continue to wage their patent war in the court room. On July 20, 2016, almost three months after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favor of Fitbit by invalidating a number of Jawbone patents, Judge Thomas Pender of the ITC has now ruled that three Fitbit patents are invalid.
The three patents in question are related to portable tracking devices (8,868,377), heart rate monitoring systems (8,920,332), and motion detection technology (9,089,760). The ITC has determined the claims in the patents are directed to patent ineligible subject matter. Given that the documents are sealed, it is not entirely clear the grounds with which Judge Pender invalidated Fitbit’s patent claims. Previous cases, however, cited Alice v. CLS Bank. As such, it appears likely that Judge Pender found Fitbit’s claims ineligible because he considered them directed to an “abstract idea.”
When asked about the ruling, Jawbone commented that this case was “brought improperly by Fitbit in an attempt to burden Jawbone with having to defend invalid patents in multiple venues.”
A spokesperson for Fitbit released the following emailed statement “Since its inception, Fitbit has more than 300 issued patents and patent applications in this area. While we are disappointed in the administrative law judge’s decision, we believe we have a strong legal basis to ask the full Commission to reverse it. Fitbit will continue to assert its IP against Jawbone as appropriate to protect the innovations central to our product offerings”