A US court has ruled that wearable technology rival Masimo infringed two of Apple’s smartwatch design patents, awarding Apple a paltry $250 in damages. But Apple failed in its grand plan to gain the means to overturn the ban on blood oxygen in the United States.
As reported by Reuters, Apple has taken Masimo to court over its W1 and Freedom smartwatches. Apple claims these models knowingly infringe on its patented smartwatch design. This was part of a larger intellectual property battle between the two companies, which ultimately led to the banning of the blood oxygen feature, which resulted in it being no longer available on top-of-the-line Apple Watches in the United States.
New models sold in the U.S., including the Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, will not have blood oxygen functionality after the International Trade Commission ruled that Apple’s proprietary blood oxygen technology infringed Masimo’s patents. is not installed.
While Apple’s latest ruling puts a check in the win column, the lawsuit actually has nothing to do with the niche smartwatches sold by Masimo and everything to do with Apple’s efforts to overturn that ban. There is a relationship. In that sense, this lawsuit is not a success for Apple, and it’s bad news for customers who continue to miss out on important health features.
Apple Watch blood oxygen – still in limbo
As Florian Müller of IP Fray, one of the world’s leading patent litigation experts, pointed out, Apple’s recent lawsuit against Masimo “was never about Masimo competing with Apple in the smartwatch market.” The company sells only a small number of smartwatches and only sells them domestically to comply with ITC regulations.
“What Apple really wanted was to get an injunction to discuss lifting the ban on Masimo, or at least to start a legal battle over whether Apple should get an injunction,” Mueller said. do.
Apple had hoped the recent design lawsuit would give it material to take back to court to get an injunction to overturn the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen ban.
Without this ruling, Apple’s options to overturn the ban remain limited. However, there is still hope. As reported earlier this month, Masimo has a new CEO, which could open the door to a deal between the two companies.
As Bloomberg’s Mark Garman reported, former CEO Joe Chiani was a vocal critic of Apple and suggested the new CEO could be friendlier. With no legal reprieve in sight for Apple, a licensing agreement between the two companies may be the only way to restore blood oxygen to the Apple Watch in the United States.
