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Billions in Sales, Years of Litigation

Masimo based its royalty calculation on $14.72 to $17.39 per device across more than 43 million Apple Watches sold. The infringement window runs from the 2020 filing of the suit until the patent expired in 2022.

This case is part of a larger legal saga. Masimo accused Apple of poaching employees, stealing trade secrets, and copying its medical-grade sensor tech. Their dispute has snaked through multiple venues, including:

• U.S. International Trade Commission, which in late 2023 found Apple violated two Masimo patents and issued a limited import ban.

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which approved an Apple Watch redesign disabling the blood-oxygen feature to sidestep the ban.

• The Federal Circuit, which heard arguments in July over Apple’s redesign.

• D.C. federal court, where Masimo also sued CBP over its handling of the dispute.

A separate trade secrets trial in 2023 ended in a hung jury leaning 6-1 for Apple. Masimo’s patents were excluded then because Apple challenged them before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; most were invalidated, but two survived. Masimo dropped one, and the remaining one  went before the jury last week.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna split the trade secrets and infringement issues into separate proceedings; a bench trial on the trade secrets claims wrapped in February and remains undecided.

Doctrine of Equivalents Looms Large

Horne told jurors they could still find infringement even if they rejected Masimo’s patient-monitor interpretation. Under the doctrine of equivalents, he said, the Apple Watch could still infringe if it performs substantially the same function in the same way.

Masimo’s expert, engineer Vijay Madisetti, testified that Apple’s watch measures and records heart-rate data in a manner indistinguishable from Masimo’s patented method — and that the 10-minute stationary trigger is irrelevant because different patient monitors specialize in different events.

He likened Apple’s argument to dismissing a sleep-apnea monitor because it doesn’t work when someone is awake.

The Lawyers Behind the Battle

Masimo is represented by teams from Knobbe Martens and Sullivan & Cromwell.
Apple is backed by attorneys from WilmerHale, Gibson Dunn, and Haynes Boone.

With more verdicts pending and multiple appeals underway, Friday’s Apple $634M Verdict may mark only another turn in a legal war that shows no signs of slowing.