- Apple fined $634 million in long-running Apple Watch case
- This is the result of a legal dispute between Apple and Masimo.
- Medical technology firm says Apple has infringed its patents
Apple has been embroiled in a years-long legal dispute with medical technology company Masimo over the latter's claim that Apple Watch the blood oxygen test infringed its patents. Masimo has now received a whopping $634 million in the case, and this could have serious consequences for fans of the case. best apple watches.
The case began in 2020 when Masimo filed a lawsuit alleging that Apple had infringed several of Masimo's patents. As a result of this case, Apple was banned from selling smartwatches with its products. blood oxygen monitoring function in the USA – a ban that is still in effect. This means that for now Apple Watch While fans in the rest of the world can use this feature, it is disabled on all Apple smartwatches that end up in the hands of American customers.
Technically, this decision did not prevent Apple from selling the Apple Watch entirely – as long as the blood oxygen function was missing, Apple could continue to ship the device. This led to Apple implementing a solution whereby the blood oxygen monitoring technology was still present in the Apple Watch, but disabled in software for US customers.
Thanks to a creative workaround from Apple, there is one way to monitor your blood oxygen levels on your Apple Watch, but it requires enlist the help of an iPhone. This means it's a far cry from the streamlined method that Apple pioneered and which the company undoubtedly wants to return to.
In any case, this was all before the latest court decision. Now the jury has decided that Apple infringed Masimo's intellectual property, and the $643 million in damages will be one of the largest consumer technology fines in the history of the Central District of California court system.
What's next?
Despite the ruling, the case is far from over. That's because Apple says it disagrees with the verdict and has said it intends to appeal. In a statement for AppleInsiderApple said:
“We disagree with today's decision, which we believe is contrary to the facts. Masimo is a medical device company that does not sell any products to consumers. Over the past six years, they have sued Apple in multiple courts and have asserted more than 25 patents, most of which have been invalidated. The only patent in this case expired in 2022, and it covers historic patient monitoring technology from decades ago. We plan to appeal.”
This means that nothing much will change for now. Apple Watch customers in the US will still not be able to use the Apple Watch's blood oxygen feature, while users in other countries will not be affected.
We suspect that until the appeal is heard and a decision is made, the situation will continue as is, and neither Apple nor Masimo seem ready to give up.
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