Jury Rules Masimo Smartwatches Infringe Apple Design Patents; Apple Wins $250 In Damages (9to5mac.com) 28
Apple was handed a victory today by a jury in Delware, which ruled that two of Masimo's smartwatches and chargers "willfully violated Apple's patent rights in smartwatch designs," according to Reuters. The reward? $250 in damages. 9to5Mac reports: Apple previously accused Masimo of using litigation to boost the launch of its own smartwatch product. In October 2022, Apple filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Masimo. The first lawsuit accused Masimo of copying the Apple Watch design. The second said that Masimo's technical features infringed on Apple patents covering technology used in the Apple Watch.
Reuters reports: "Apple convinced a federal jury on Friday that health monitoring tech company Masimo's smartwatches infringe two of its design patents. The jury, in Delaware, agreed with Apple that Masimo's W1 and Freedom watches and chargers willfully violated Apple's patent rights in smartwatch designs, awarding the tech giant $250 in damages. Apple's attorneys told the court the 'ultimate purpose' of its lawsuit was to win an injunction against sales of Masimo's smartwatches after an infringement ruling." The jury, however, also determined that Masimo's smartwatches "did not infringe on Apple patents covering smartwatch inventions that the tech giant had accused Masimo of copying." The two companies continue to battle it out over patent infringements regarding the Apple Watch's blood oxygen sensor.
Reuters reports: "Apple convinced a federal jury on Friday that health monitoring tech company Masimo's smartwatches infringe two of its design patents. The jury, in Delaware, agreed with Apple that Masimo's W1 and Freedom watches and chargers willfully violated Apple's patent rights in smartwatch designs, awarding the tech giant $250 in damages. Apple's attorneys told the court the 'ultimate purpose' of its lawsuit was to win an injunction against sales of Masimo's smartwatches after an infringement ruling." The jury, however, also determined that Masimo's smartwatches "did not infringe on Apple patents covering smartwatch inventions that the tech giant had accused Masimo of copying." The two companies continue to battle it out over patent infringements regarding the Apple Watch's blood oxygen sensor.
And way more in lawyers fees (Score:2)
Wait what? $250 in damages? (Score:2)
Re:Wait what? $250 in damages? (Score:5, Insightful)
The real victory is not in the money, but the judgement that they can now use to prevent Masimo from selling those items.
Re:Wait what? $250 in damages? (Score:5, Informative)
It’s the other way around. Masimo blocked Apple from selling blood oximeters integrated in the Apple Watch. Apple was hoping for revenge .. and failed.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple watches still have blood oximeters. Masimo won their design patent lawsuit (yes, it was a design patent) and so Apple had to knock the beveled corners off the sensors. Now Apple has won their revenge suit so Masimo will probably have to change the radius of the corners on their rounded rectangle.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Masimo makes its money from oximeters, they don't care about their smartwatch .. how many Masimo smartwatches are people buying? They can do a probably do a redesign anyway. Apple was hoping to force them into allowing Apple to integrate oximeters into the Apple Watch. That's not going to happen cheap.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually it looks like Apple did not get an injunction.
Apple is now (Score:5, Funny)
...a multi-dollar company.
Re: (Score:2)
The lawyers still got paid, and that's what important.
Re:Apple is now (Score:4, Funny)
yeah they now have dozens of dollars. Dozens!
Defendants (Score:2)
Of course, if Apple is only really after an injunction, they'll immediately agree to $1.
Huge loss for Apple (Score:2)
This was a countersuit because Masimo blocked Apple from using blood oxygen sensors. You guys realize that right? Apple was hoping this would be leverage.
Re:Huge loss for Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
It may very well be if they secure an injunction. It's kind of dumb though because none of these apple patents are particularly novel. They're just stupid design patents that in all likelihood were themselves inspired by yet another design. The masimo patents are pretty novel though, basically they invented a far more accurate way of taking optical pulse oxymetry by measuring multiple wavelengths, which was far from obvious, nor could it have been inspired by another design, and it took a lot of effort to develop and prove the technology. Exactly why apple blatantly ripped it off instead of licensing it like masimo offered.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
" if they secure an injunction."
Apple did not secure an injunction. No infringement was found for current products.
Re: (Score:2)
No, the Masimo patents are design patents as well. Apple was found infringing on two claims, one of which was for beveled edges. I don't remember the other but it was equally stupid.
Masimo had novel(ish) patents on oximeters, but they were in the 90s and have expired. They've got current patents on fancy analysis software which you can call novel if you want, but Apple didn't infringe those.
Re: Huge loss for Apple (Score:2)
This is just what Apple fans say, and it's not true. They think it's a software patent because in order to circumvent the ban, Apple had to completely disable it via a software update. Problem is, the patent specifically covers an optical sensor. The same optical sensor that the software update disabled.
Re: (Score:2)
The judgement is very clear, it indicates precisely which two claims in which patent are infringing. You haven't looked it up, have you?
I guess your post is "just what Apple haters say?"
Penny should sue Apple (Score:2)
Penny Gadget invented tablets, which Apple shameless ripped off.
Re:Penny should sue Apple (Score:5, Funny)
Sumerians invented tablets, which Apple shamelessly ripped off. That they were made from clay is irrelevant. Sumerians used them as content creation devices. Expect a lawsuit to be filed by Gilgamesh any time soon.
Re: (Score:2)
And as long as you can still read Cuneiform you don't need to upgrade or replace the tablet, they are still accessible. Imagine a cloud provider keeping your files around for 5000 years. Never going to happen, not even Apple will do it.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't read Cuneiform but there are universities that offer undergraduate and graduate programs in it, so tablets are sure to be readable for a long time to come. Oh yes, would you like to specialize in Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, or Hittite? In order for a tablet to survive for 5000 years it needs to be fired (as in a kiln). In practice the most common way that this was done was that the town or city in which the tablets were located would be pillaged and burned. Tablets fired - great!
Cuneiform wa
Charging port (Score:2)
There is a lack of images in articles, indicating what this is really about....
From the little I've been able to gather, this is apparently specifically about the charging port on the back of the watch looks like.
The back of Masimo W1 watch looks similar to the back of Apple's watch, and attaches a round puck.
(Garmin also use round charging pucks BTW, but the bottom of the watches don't look like Apple's)
Who Knew (Score:2)
New CEO (Score:1)
Maybe the board and shareholders want some of that sweet Apple money. Now that Apple didn't get what it wanted here it wouldn't be surprising if a deal quickly happens so Apple can reenable its oxygen sensor.