A U.S. federal jury has ruled that Apple owes medical technology company Masimo US$634 million for patent infringement related to the blood oxygen-sensing technology in the Apple Watch, reports Reuters.
“Over the past six years (Masimo has) sued Apple in multiple courts and asserted over 25 patents, the majority of which have been found to be invalid,” an Apple spokesperson told Reuters. “The single patent in this case expired in 2022, and is specific to historic patient monitoring technology from decades ago.”
Not surprisingly, Apple will appeal the verdict. This is all part of an ongoing legal battle.
In June 2022 Masimo filed a patent infringement complaint against Apple, asking for a ban on impacts of the Apple Watch. The medial device company claimed that the Apple Watch Series 6 infringed on five of its patents for devices that use light transmitted through the body to measure oxygen levels in the blood. The company said that the tech is vial to its business and that Apple is unfairly copying its features.
Masimo and its spinoff Cercacor Laboratories first sued in January 2020. They accused Apple of promising a working relationship only to steal secret information. The tech giant also allegedly attempted to hire away key employees, including Cercacor’s former chief technology officer and Masimo’s chief medical officer.
However, in October 2022 Apple sued Masimo Corp in Delaware federal court, accusing its new W1 line of smartwatches of infringing several Apple Watch patents, reports Reuters.
The two lawsuits said Masimo copied Apple’s technology while seeking bans on sales and imports of Apple Watches in earlier intellectual-property cases against the tech giant in California and at a U.S. trade tribunal. Apple said Masimo “carefully studied Apple’s IP” during those cases and claimed a Masimo spinoff received confidential information about the Apple Watch.
On August 14 Apple introduced a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update. Masimo said that was the first time it learned r the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had quietly reversed course two weeks earlier in an ex parte ruling, despite the agency’s policy that such decisions normally require both sides to be heard and filed a lawsuit against U.S. Customs.
Masimo filed another lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the U.S. Customs decision and once again prevent Apple from selling Apple Watch models with the blood oxygen feature in the U.S.. There’s been no ruling yet in that lawsuit.
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Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
