A lawsuit has been filed by Valencell, a company known for its heart sensor technology, in Raleigh, North Carolina against watchmaker Apple, Inc., with Valencell claiming that Apple requested white papers about its heart sensor technology under various fictitious names in order to gather information about its PerformTek products. Valencell mandates individuals fill out a form before being granted access to each white paper.
Around February 2013, Apple met with Valencell to express an interest in the company’s heart sensor technology, prior to its fictitious names and whitepaper requests. After meeting with Valencell and downloading whitepapers in 2013 and 2014, Apple announced the Apple Watch at the end of 2014 and released the smartwatch in Spring 2015 (after downloading more white papers at Valencell’s website), with the Apple Watch containing what Valencell believes is its own heart sensor technology. Valencell says that Apple had several employees request whitepapers under fictitious names, but that all of the IP addresses for the artificial names belong to Apple, Inc. Apple hasn’t yet commented on the lawsuit.
