Apple is urging the US Appeals Court to reverse the import ban on Apple Watch imposed by the ITC amidst the Masimo dispute.
During the appeal period, Apple had deactivated pulse oximetry functions on certain smartwatch models that were sold, a period that could extend for at least a year.
On Friday, Apple urged a U.S. appeals court to overturn a ruling by a U.S. trade tribunal that banned imports of certain Apple Watches due to a patent dispute with medical-monitoring technology firm Masimo.
Apple argued to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the decision of the U.S. International Trade Commission was flawed due to a series of patent rulings that lacked substance. Additionally, Apple contended that Masimo had not demonstrated investments in developing competing U.S. products that would justify the import ban.
There was no immediate response from representatives of Apple and Masimo regarding the filing.
Masimo, headquartered in Irvine, California, has alleged that Apple poached its employees and unlawfully appropriated its pulse oximetry technology following discussions about potential collaboration. Apple initially introduced pulse oximetry to its Series 6 Apple Watches in 2020.
On December 26, Masimo successfully convinced the ITC to block imports of Apple’s latest Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches after determining that their blood-oxygen level reading technology violated Masimo’s patents.
Apple temporarily resumed sales of the watches the following day after obtaining a pause on the ban from the Federal Circuit. However, the appeals court reinstated the ban in January, prompting Apple to eliminate pulse oximetry capabilities from watches sold during the appeal period, which Apple anticipates could last for at least a year.
In January, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted a separate assessment and concluded that redesigned iterations of the watches did not infringe upon Masimo’s rights and therefore would not be subjected to the ban. Masimo stated in a court document that the watches “clearly lack pulse oximetry functionality.”
On Friday, Apple informed the Federal Circuit that the ban couldn’t be upheld as a Masimo wearable, protected by the patents, was merely “hypothetical” at the time of filing its ITC complaint in 2021.
Furthermore, the technology giant contended that Masimo’s patents lacked validity and that its watches did not violate them.
