By Blake Brittain

March 7 - Apple AAPL.O convinced a U.S. appeals court on Friday to uphold its win against medical device maker AliveCor in a patent dispute that could have led to an import ban on Apple Watches.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the invalidity of AliveCor heart-rate monitoring patents that the company had accused Apple of infringing, negating a U.S. trade tribunal's ruling that Apple had violated AliveCor's rights.

An AliveCor spokesperson said the company was "deeply disappointed" by the rulings and is exploring "all available legal options, including potential appeals." The spokesperson said the decision does not affect AliveCor's ongoing business.

An Apple spokesperson said its teams have "worked tirelessly over many years to develop industry-leading health, wellness and safety features that meaningfully impact users' lives."

Mountain View, California-based AliveCor sought a ban on Apple Watch imports at the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2021. It accused the tech giant of infringing three patents related to AliveCor's KardiaBand, an Apple Watch accessory that monitors a user's heart rate, detects irregularities and performs an electrocardiogram to identify heart problems like atrial fibrillation.

AliveCor told the commission that Apple copied its technology starting with Series 4 Apple Watches and drove it out of the market by making the iOS operating system incompatible with the KardiaBand.

The U.S. Patent Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated the patents at Apple's request in 2022. The ITC determined weeks later that AliveCor would be entitled to an import ban on infringing Apple Watches if the patents were valid, but paused the ban while the Federal Circuit considered appeals.

The Federal Circuit agreed with Apple on Friday that AliveCor's patents were invalid and dismissed the ITC case.

Apple was hit with a separate import ban on some Apple Watches in 2023 as part of a patent dispute with Masimo MASI.O over blood-oxygen monitoring technology. Apple has appealed the decision and resumed selling the watches after removing the technology.

The AliveCor cases are AliveCor Inc v. International Trade Commission, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 23-1509 and AliveCor Inc v. Apple Inc, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 23-1512.

For Apple: Melanie Bostwick of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Mark Davies of White & Case

For AliveCor: Sean Pak of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Read more:

Apple wins AliveCor smartwatch patent challenges ahead of import ban ruling

Apple Watches violate AliveCor patents but import ban on hold -U.S. ITC