Post by : Bianca
Haleem
In a significant legal blow to Apple, a federal jury in California has ordered the tech powerhouse to pay $634 million to Masimo, a medical-monitoring firm, due to patent infringement related to technology for measuring blood oxygen levels. The ruling focuses on functionalities within the Apple Watch, such as its workout mode and heart rate notifications, which the jury determined breached Masimo’s patent rights.
Apple has expressed its firm disagreement with the verdict and has revealed plans to appeal. Masimo, on the other hand, has hailed the decision as a “major victory” for protecting its intellectual property.
The case is part of a broader high-stakes conflict between Apple and the Irvine-based Masimo, which alleges that Apple lured away its employees and used Masimo's pulse oximetry technology in its devices without permission. As a result of these allegations, a U.S. trade tribunal imposed a block on the imports of Apple’s Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches earlier in 2023, forcing Apple to remove the blood-oxygen monitoring feature temporarily until it received approval from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reintegrate it.
A new proceeding by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently underway to evaluate whether the updated Apple watches should still face an import ban. Concurrently, Masimo is pursuing legal recourse against Customs regarding the earlier ruling, while Apple is contesting the ban in a federal appeals court.
This ruling marks yet another episode in an ongoing legal drama, wherein Apple and Masimo have repeatedly found themselves at odds. Earlier this year, a California trade secret case was declared a mistrial, and last year, Apple secured a modest $250 verdict in Delaware related to design patent issues.
The ruling reflects the escalating tensions between wearable technology and medical advancements, indicating a rising trend of intellectual property disputes within the technology landscape.
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