Yesterday evening Businesswire posted a press release from Masimo. It stated that a United States Administrative Law Judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that Apple Inc. violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended, by importing and selling within the United States certain Apple Watches with light-based pulse oximetry functionality and components, which infringe one of Masimo’s pulse oximeter patents. Apple first released its pulse oximeter sensor with the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020 and continues to use it in the current Apple Watches. The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) will now consider whether to implement an import ban on these Apple Watches.

Joe Kiani, CEO of Masimo: "We are happy that the ALJ recognized Apple’s infringement of Masimo’s pulse oximetry technology and took this critical first step toward accountability. Today’s decision should help restore fairness in the market. Apple has similarly infringed on other companies’ technologies, and we believe today’s ruling exposes Apple as a company that takes other companies’ innovations and repackages them.”

Lastly, the press release stated that "Masimo is the global leader of pulse oximeters for medical use, having revolutionized the industry with its Masimo SET® pulse oximetry technology, proven to help reduce blindness in babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, save lives of post-surgical patients on opioids and COVID patients monitored remotely. Masimo recently debuted its own watch – the Masimo W1™ – which is the first wearable device on the market to provide consumers with accurate, continuous health data, including oxygen level, hydration index, and pulse, heart, and respiration rates."

For the record, Apple filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Masimo in October 2022 (01 and 02) along with a design patent infringement lawsuit wherein Apple claims that Masimo infringed 4 Apple Watch designs. One of the images from that lawsuit is presented below comparing Apple Watch to the Masimo W1.

It would appear that the legal battle between Masimo and Apple is far from over.