A company like Apple is no stranger to patent law and aggressively protects its patents in the courts, so finding itself on the other end of that stick is somewhat ironic. The ITC found the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 to infringe on patents from Masimo, which produces medical technology. The issue is with the watches’ health monitoring sensors, specifically those that detect blood oxygen saturation or SPO2.
As The Wall Street Journal reported, Apple met with Masimo founder Joe Kiani to discuss implementing his company’s technology into wearable devices like the Apple Watch. But instead of partnering with Masimo, Apple began to poach talent, including Masimo’s chief medical officer and top engineers. A patent filed in 2019 by one of those engineers bore a striking resemblance to one of Masimo’s own patents for mobile SPO2 sensors.
In January 2023, the ITC ruled that the SPO2 sensors used in Apple’s Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 infringed on Masimo’s patents. A trade ban was issued in October after Apple countersued Masimo. While Apple had hoped to halt the ban while it worked on ways to differentiate the two infringing products, today’s denial of that motion means the watches will indeed halt sales for at least some time.