Jury says Apple owes Masimo $634M for patent infringement

A federal jury in California has ruled that Apple must pay Masimo $634 million for infringing on a patent related to blood oxygen monitoring technology. The jury found that specific features of the Apple Watch, including workout mode and heart rate notifications, violated Masimo’s patent. Masimo emphasized the importance of protecting its intellectual property to continue developing patient-benefiting technology, while Apple announced plans to appeal the verdict, noting that the patent in question expired in 2022 and pertains to older patient monitoring technology. The legal battle centers on pulse oximetry technology, which uses optical sensors to detect blood flow. Masimo accused Apple of hiring away key employees and infringing on its patents. In 2023, the U.S. International Trade Commission sided with Masimo, banning the import of Apple Watches with blood oxygen monitoring features, which led to the removal of this functionality from recent Apple Watch models. In response, Apple redesigned the feature so that blood oxygen readings are processed on the paired iPhone rather than