Following a decision that offered Apple a way to bring its Apple Watch blood oxygen tool back in the U.S., Bloomberg reports that Masimo alleges U.S. Customs and Border Protection “unlawfully let Apple Inc. reactivate a blood-oxygen tracking feature on Apple Watches that infringes patents for the technology,” according to a suit filed in federal court.
With that, Masimo wants a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction from the court to halt Apple’s blood oxygen feature on its Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models.
“Each passing day that this unlawful ruling remains in effect irreparably deprives Masimo of its right to be free from unfair trade practices and to preserve its competitive standing in the U.S. marketplace,” said Masimo. We now need to wait for the court to decide whether Masimo’s allegations mean Apple needs to remove this feature once again, or if the U.S. Customs and Border Protection decision was correct.
Apple might rely on blood oxygen tool to expand other health technologies
Masimo accuses Apple of infringing U.S. patents number 10,912,502 and 10,945,648 regarding non-invasive pulse oximetry. If the court decides to reinstate the previous decision, Apple still has a pending appeal at the Federal Circuit.
If that turns out to be the case, another option would be to wait until 2028 so the company would be able to reinstate the technology again, as the patent will have expired. That said, this could limit Apple’s capabilities to release new features, such as the long-rumored blood pressure monitor.
With plans to implement more advanced health sensors in the coming years, getting a feature shutdown that had been available since the Apple Watch Series 6 would mean the company would have to delay some of its best features on its most important product lineup. At this moment, we haven’t heard from Apple, Masimo, or the U.S. CPB, but we’ll update the story when we do.
