Apple on Friday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a U.S. Trade Court decision that banned the import of some Apple Watches due to a patent dispute with medical monitoring technology company Masimo.
Apple told authorities that the US International Trade Commission’s decision was based on “a series of fundamentally flawed patent decisions” and that Massimo had invested in competing US products that justified the order. He said he couldn’t show it. .
Representatives for Apple and Massimo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the case.
Massimo, of Irvine, California, accused Apple of firing employees and stealing its pulse oximetry technology after discussing a possible partnership. Apple first introduced pulse oximetry in the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020.
On December 26, Masimo suspended imports of Apple’s latest smartwatches, the Series 9 and Ultra 2, after it was discovered that the technology used to measure blood oxygen levels violated Masimo’s patents. I convinced ITC to do it.
Apple temporarily resumed sales of the watch the next day after convincing a federal court to lift the ban. An appeals court reinstated the ban in January, forcing Apple to remove the pulse oximetry feature from watches sold during the appeal, although Apple said the feature could remain in place for at least a year.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection separately determined in January that the redesigned version of the watch did not violate Massimo’s rights and was not subject to the ban. Massimo said in a lawsuit that the watch “certainly does not have a pulse oximetry function.”
Apple told the federal court on Friday that the ban could not be upheld because the Masimo wearable device that was the subject of the patent was “purely hypothetical” when the company filed a complaint with the ITC in 2021.
The tech giant also claimed that Masimo’s patents were invalid and that its watches did not infringe them.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
