According to a recent article by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Fitbit has settled its patent infringement case with the intellectual property expert, Perikindar Venkataraman. Fitbit now claims it has met its discovery demands by providing copies of several different patents and by creating charts that demonstrate how these various terms are presented throughout the signing process. In their Fitbit class action lawsuit against the inventor, plaintiffs Kate McLellan, Teresa Black & David Urban claim that the PurePulse technology utilized in many Fitbit trackers incorrectly provides measured results and improperly classifies the devices as medical devices.
Fitbit Class Action Lawsuit
In addition to these issues, Fitbit’s marketing campaign also included inaccuracies. For example, Fitbit advertised the Fitbit Cardio Score Technology as having the ability to monitor heart rates while the devices actually did not meet that standard. Also, Fitbit failed to disclose that the heart rate monitors were not designed to be medical devices and were never intended to perform as such. Further, Fitbit never disclosed that their heart rate monitors, when paired with their fitness trackers, provided inaccurate readings and that the Fitbit Cardio Score Technology was not designed to be used by medical professionals or as a reference for proper heart rate monitoring. Rather, it was primarily intended to be used by individuals exercising without professional guidance.
Additionally, Fitbit failed to provide any assurances to consumers that their devices would provide accurate measurement of calories burned during exercise.
Further, the company’s marketing campaign further demonstrated that, although they had marketed their Fitbit sleep tracker as a device that could provide an individual with an approximation of their daily energy expenditure during normal activities, that estimate depended upon the level of activity performed by the consumer and their current physical state, rather than solely relying upon an accurate measure of calories burned during exercise. Finally, Fitbit’s reliance upon its sleep tracker led to numerous complaints from consumers that the sleep tracker was incorrect and provided unreliable measurements. As a result, the fitbit class action lawsuit was filed against fitbit.
At the time of filing this lawsuit, fitbit had not yet entered into a major revenue generating position, but their devices were extremely popular among those who were looking for innovative ways to lose weight and who were willing to take extreme physical activity risks in order to do so.
Fitbit’s marketing campaign relied on highlighting that their trackers could be used to track not only calories burned during exercise but also heart rates during intense physical activity. Further, many of their trackers were capable of providing more detailed information about an individual’s sleep patterns, which they did not disclose prior to the lawsuit. As a result of these facts, the plaintiffs brought suit against fitbit.
The crux of the suit revolves around the claim that fitbit was deceptive in promoting heart rate based workout intensity and calorie burn per day.
In addition to failing to warn that the devices could only track one type of data, Fitbit was also deceptive in suggesting that their heart rate based activities trackers could be used by individuals to determine their overall fitness levels and calorie burning goals. As well as failing to disclose that their heart rate based trackers could only track one type of information, Fitbit was also deceptive in suggesting that their heart rate trackers could be used by individuals to determine their overall fitness levels and calorie burning goals. As a result of these facts, the lawsuit was filed against fitbit.
Fitbit, through their marketing campaigns, was able to convince many consumers that their sleep-tracking function offered them an accurate measurement of their actual sleep patterns, which was inaccurate and relied on subjective measurements.
Ultimately, the class action lawsuit asserts that fitbit was a fraudulent enterprise and were simply using sleep-tracking devices to generate profits rather than focusing on quality products that provided the results that they promised. The class action lawsuit further claims that since fitbit’s inception, there have been numerous recalls of its products due to those defects and problems that were exposed by fitbit’s deceptive advertising. These recalls include the watches from Fitbit, the monitor strap for Fitbit, and even the sleep-monitoring device from Fitbit. With this lawsuit, hope has been restored for the many sleep-wear consumers that were potentially harmed by the deceitful actions of fitbit.
