A federal jury in Delaware has awarded Apple $250, finding that Masimo’s original smartwatch designs infringed on Apple’s design patents.
While the victory marks a win for Apple, it’s a limited one, as the jury’s decision primarily impacts older Masimo products. The long-running legal battle between the two tech giants intensified last Christmas when an import ban was imposed on certain Apple Watch models. The appeal of this ban is currently pending.
Apple was only seeking the statutory minimum of $250, and that’s all it was awarded. Apple’s attorney John Desmarais reportedly told jurors,
“We’re not here for the money.” Instead, he said the company hoped to force Masimo to “stop copying our design.”
The company may have been disappointed on that front. The jury did find that the original design for Masimo’s W1 Freedom and health module, as well as its original charger, infringed on Apple design patents and that the infringement was willful.
However, in a statement, Masimo noted that the findings only applied to “a discontinued module and charger,” not its current products.
“Apple primarily sought an injunction against Masimo’s current products, and the jury’s verdict is a victory for Masimo on that issue,” the medical device company said.
The trial resulted from Apple’s countersuit in its ongoing legal battle with Masimo, which started with the Masimo’s claim that its patents had been infringed by the Apple Watch’s pulse-oximetry feature, which allows Watch owners to measure their blood oxygen levels.
Apple disabled the feature in the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, and it’s also missing from the new Series 10. These limitations only apply in the United States, with Apple is appealing an import ban on models with the contested feature.
Desmarais reportedly told the jury that the pulse-oximetry feature “has nothing to do with this case.”
