Apple vs Masimo (Apple Watch patents): justice refuses to decide
Apple and society Masimo have sued each other, the first in 2022 for a supposed clone of the Apple Watch (the W1 Advanced Health Tracking Watch), the second in 2020 for health patents supposedly copied by Apple. And the least we can say is that justice has a hard time disentangling the true from the false in this crossover. Apple still came close to winning this legal battle: six of the seven jurors voted in favor of Apple, but a unanimous vote was needed to win the piece.
Without the possibility of a clear verdict, the case between the two parties will be retried in plea bargain. For information, “plea bargaining or plea negotiated is an admission of guilt preceded by a bargaining over the sentence. This is a simplified judgment procedure that avoids a trial on guilt through a settlement. » To put it another way, it’s going to be a bargain.
Despite this stalemate, Apple welcomed the judges’ report: “We deeply respect intellectual property and innovation and do not take or use confidential information from other companies. We are pleased that the court correctly dismissed half of plaintiffs’ trade secret claims, and we will now ask the court to dismiss the remaining claims. »
As a reminder, Masimo accuses Apple of infringing some of its patents relating to PPG technology (photoplethysmograph), i.e. the technology that makes it possible to measure the variations of light passing through human tissues (even blood), in order to deduce a certain amount of health information. The health company had launched a second lawsuit, this time for patents relating to the measurement of oxygen levels in the blood.
