Home / Business and Economy / Philips, Fitbit Settle Patent War
Philips, Fitbit Settle Patent War
18 Mar
Summary
- Philips and Fitbit settled a patent dispute over wearable tech.
- The lawsuit accused Fitbit of misusing Philips' fitness-tracker technology.
- The companies asked a Massachusetts court to dismiss the case.
Philips and Google's Fitbit have reached a settlement in a patent infringement lawsuit. The legal dispute, filed by Philips in 2019, centered on allegations that Fitbit's wearable devices improperly used Philips' patented technology for health monitoring. The companies officially informed a Massachusetts federal court on Tuesday that they had resolved their differences and requested the case be dismissed with prejudice, preventing refiling.
This resolution marks the end of a long-running legal battle over intellectual property concerning fitness trackers. Philips had sued Fitbit, claiming infringement of patents related to its own wearable health-monitoring devices. However, the patents in question were subsequently invalidated by both the court and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Additionally, Fitbit, along with Garmin, had previously prevailed in a related patent case at the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2021.
Google acquired Fitbit for $2.1 billion in January 2021. Representatives for both Google and Philips had not immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the specifics of the settlement. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
