SAN FRANCISCO—Yesterday, NetChoice filed a brief with Chamber of Progress and the Computer and Communications Industry Association in support of Apple in the case AliveCor v. Apple. In this case, AliveCor asserts that a software upgrade Apple made for its Apple Watch was “anti-competitive,” as it impacted the performance of AliveCor’s health-monitoring apps.
In 2021, Apple upgraded its AppleWatch software to better detect the wearer’s heart rate, improve battery life and generally improve the quality of its product. This is a standard practice for tech devices. The upgrade removed an earlier version of software on which AliveCor’s health-monitoring apps had been trained. Then, AliveCor sued Apple, alleging that the software upgrade was anti-competitive because, although AliveCor’s apps were retrained on the new software, AliveCor’s apps performed less well using the upgraded software.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that Apple’s software upgrade was not anticompetitive. Rather, the upgrade was a product improvement for consumers, which the antitrust laws encourage. The court also rejected AliveCor’s misguided claim that Apple should be required to retain–and continue to run–outdated software, which poses many risks, not the least of which is to customer security. Now, AliveCor is appealing that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“The emerging market of ‘wearable technology’ is fiercely competitive. Whether it’s competition between the Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Whoop, or competition between app-developers, all participants confront strong rivals and must constantly innovate and improve to win customer approval. That’s a good thing because consumers are the winners of this continuous innovation. This product improvement is importantly protected, and encouraged, by U.S. antitrust law,” said Paul Taske, NetChoice Associate Director of Litigation. “America’s antitrust laws are designed to protect American consumers—not corporate competitors.”
In our brief, we make three key points to the court:
- U.S. antitrust law encourages companies to improve their products by recognizing that actions taken to improve a product for consumers are pro-competitive;
- Companies are not required to deal with competitors on the competitor’s preferred terms—the law encourages competitors to match the creativity and invocation of their peers; and
- If accepted, AliveCor’s arguments would undermine competition, hamstring technological innovation and result in a detriment to consumers.
You can read NetChoice’s brief with Chamber of Progress and CCIA here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.