A U.S. trade tribunal ruled in favor of Apple on Friday, rejecting medtech company Masimo’s bid to reinstate an import ban on the Apple Watch.
The U.S. International Trade Commission closed Masimo’s case after declining to review a preliminary ruling issued in March by an ITC judge. That ruling found that Apple’s redesigned watches do not infringe Masimo’s patents related to blood-oxygen sensing technology.
Reuters:
Danaher-owned Masimo can appeal the decision to the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
“We thank the ITC for its decision, which ensures we can continue to offer this important health feature to our users,” Apple said. “For more than six years, Masimo has waged a relentless legal campaign against Apple, and nearly all of its claims have been rejected.”
The two companies have been embroiled in a long-running legal dispute after Masimo accused Apple of hiring away its employees to steal pulse-oximetry technology for determining blood oxygen levels.
The ITC blocked imports of Apple’s Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches in December 2023 after finding that they infringed Masimo’s patents. Apple removed blood-oxygen reading technology from its watches to avoid the ban, but reintroduced an updated version of the technology last August with approval from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Updated watches display health data from the blood-oxygen reader on associated Apple devices like the iPhone and not the watch itself. Apple’s original version displayed the data on its watches as well.
Masimo has separately sued Customs over its approval of the redesigned watches.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch owners can breathe easy (and keep measuring their blood oxygen levels) for the foreseeable future.
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The post Apple defeats Masimo bid for new Apple Watch import ban at US ITC tribunal appeared first on MacDailyNews.
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