OC Company Masimo Handed Legal Victory Against Apple

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple Watch contains technology that violates Irvine company Masimo’s pulse-oximetry technology patents.

Masimo, founded by Orange County entrepreneur Joe Kiani in 1989, manufactures medical devices that read blood-oxygen levels.

“Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has found a violation of Section 337 in the above-captioned investigation,” the Oct. 26 decision states.

Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 pertains to imports into the United States of light-based physiological measurement devices and components.

“Masimo does not get any money from this, but it’s a very, very huge victory because from this ruling, Apple is going to be stopped from selling the Apple Watch and that’s huge for Apple,” said Newport Beach intellectual property attorney Michael Ahmadshahi. “They make a lot of money selling it.”

That’s if U.S. President Joe Biden doesn’t veto ITC’s exclusion order before December 26.

“It’s an administrative proceeding and an automatic process,” Ahmadshahi told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “Apple has already stated that even if Biden does not veto the ruling, it’s going to appeal the ruling to the federal circuit.”

Kiani did not respond to requests for comment but said in a statement to the LA Times that ITC’s ruling sends a powerful message that even the world’s largest company is not above the law.

“This important determination is a strong validation of our efforts to hold Apple accountable for unlawfully misappropriating our patented technology,” he said.

Apple Watches are manufactured in and imported from China.

Masimo sued Apple in June 2021 asking the ITC to halt imports from China of the Apple Watch 6.

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment but previously said in a statement to the LA Times, “Masimo has wrongly attempted to use the ITC to keep a potentially lifesaving product from millions of U.S. consumers while making way for their own watch that copies Apple. While today’s decision has no immediate impact on sale of Apple Watch, we believe it should be reversed, and will continue our efforts to appeal.”

The ITC ruling only applies to imported products and does not effect Apple Watches that have already been sold in the U.S., according to Ahmadshahi.

“Based on this ruling, Apple cannot import its Apple Watch the way it is built right now but they can go back and revise or design around Masimo’s patents but that’s going to take a long time,” he said. “One of the purposes of using the ITC venue is that it is much faster than doing a patent infringement claim in federal court.”

In court records, Apple is accused of contacting Masimo under the guise of creating a partnership and possible acquisition until it allegedly began poaching Masimo’s leaders and intellectual property.

It was widely reported that Kiani spent some $60 million in legal fees.

“Often, these big companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon have almost unlimited money to spend on legal fees and often can dictate their terms on a smaller company to acquire, license or otherwise use their technology, even though they didn’t come up with it first,” Ahmadshahi added.