Philips’ GPS fitness tracker patent invalidated in win for Garmin
The English High Court has handed victory to technology company Garmin in its bid to invalidate claims of a Philips owned patent covering wearable GPS fitness trackers.
In a judgment issued yesterday, January 29, the court ruled that certain claims of Philips’ patent for an “athlete’s GPS-based performance monitor” are invalid as obvious.
In October 2017, Garmin sought to have the patent invalidated and revoked, while Philips counterclaimed for infringement. The judge, Mr. Justice Henry Carr, said that if claim 30A was valid, then 73 Garmin products would infringe the patent.
However, the judge said that this claim and others were invalid.
In the ruling, the judge said that although this was arguably an “art changing invention” which “gave rise to a new industry”, it was obvious at the priority date of March 1998.
The patent (number 1,076,806B1) was granted in 2004 by the European Patent Office. It covers a GPS sports watch, also known as an “athletic performance monitoring device” (APMD).
Garmin cited examples of prior art in the case, including a 1997 academic paper by Yves Schutz of the University of Lausanne, titled “Could a satellite-based navigation system (GPS) be used to assess the physical activity of individuals on earth?”.
According to the judgment, Philips conceded that the “idea of developing a GPS-based APMD would have been obvious to the skilled person at the priority date in light of Schutz”.
The company disputed, however, that any of the prior art cited by Garmin disproved that Philips’ patent contained an inventive step.
The court concluded that only one claim of Philips’ patent constituted an inventive step.
According to the ruling, the device’s audio entertainment system was a “substantive technical contribution”, as it automatically reduces the volume of the music when the device is delivering real-time information about the user’s fitness.
Despite the findings, Carr found that claim CA2 of the patent was infringed by a “small proportion” of Garmin products.
WIPR has contacted Philips for comment.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today's top stories:
Chinese officials urge government to strengthen IP protection
