Apple Sued for Fall Detection Feature, Threatened with Long Patent Dispute in the US

JAKARTA - Apple is once again facing legal pressure related to health technology on the Apple Watch. This time, the Cupertino-based company was dragged into a patent dispute over the fall detection feature, after specialty wearable manufacturer UnaliWear filed an official complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).

UnaliWear, a company based in Austin, Texas, accused Apple and a number of other technology giants of infringing its patents related to fall detection technology on wearable devices. In addition to Apple, the companies named in the complaint include Google, Samsung Electronics, and Garmin. For Samsung and Garmin, the lawsuit includes several of their international entities and divisions.

The complaint was first filed on December 12, 2025, then renewed on December 31, 2025, and January 5, 2026. UnaliWear accused the defendants of violating Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a provision that regulates intellectual property rights violations and authorizes the USITC to prohibit the import of products deemed to have infringed patents into the United States.

The USITC is currently expressing its intention to conduct an investigation, without publishing technical details of the lawsuit. Apple and other companies accused of being asked to respond within 20 days. So far, there has been no official comment from the parties accused of infringing patents.

UnaliWear is not an anonymous player in this industry. The company, which was founded in 2013, produces Kanega Watch, a smart watch designed specifically for elderly users and individuals with a high risk of falling. This product is sold for around 299 US dollars, plus an annual subscription fee of 779.40 US dollars. Fall detection is the main selling point of Kanega Watch, which directly places it as a competitor to the Apple Watch in terms of safety and health monitoring.

Unlike many other patent lawsuits that are often labeled as the work of patent trolls, UnaliWear is seen as an active manufacturer with real products in the market. However, the company's marketing claims also drew attention, including comparisons that said the Apple Watch did not have some of the assistive features actually available on Apple devices.

This case is reminiscent of a previous major dispute between Apple and health technology company Masimo. In the case, Masimo won a $634 million verdict and had the Apple Watch banned from being sold in the US for infringing on a patent related to blood oxygen sensors. Apple then circumvented the ban by disabling the feature on units sold in the US market, before eventually bringing it back in the middle of the ongoing legal process.

Observers assess that without knowing the specific details of UnaliWear's patent, this case has the potential to last a long time and be expensive. Disputes of this kind often depend on technical interpretations of relatively broad and ambiguous patents. By comparison, Masimo reportedly has spent more than 100 million US dollars on legal fees.

Interestingly, UnaliWear only took legal action eight years after Apple introduced the fall detection feature on the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018. This long time has raised speculation that the company may have tried other avenues, such as negotiations or licensing, before finally choosing the litigation step.

If the USITC investigation continues to the sanctions stage, the risk is not small. A ban on smart device imports to the US could have a major impact, not only on Apple, but also on the global wearable ecosystem. For now, the industry can only wait, while another long round of the health technology patent war begins to open in 2026