Apple has (almost) saved its last two connected watches. The American company has obtained the resale of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 (launched last September) in the United States, through a federal court. At least temporarily. Because the latter decided that the prohibition measure would not be applied until the appeal procedure is completed.
Last October, the International Trade Center (ITC) ordered Apple to remove its latest two connected watch models from the market. All because of a story of patent infringement.
Masimo initiated this accusation. A – discreet – giant of medical technology that proclaims the invention of the connected oximeter, at least as it is integrated into the Apple watch. A device that allows you to calculate the level of oxygen in the blood.
Joe Kiani, its founder, accuses Apple of having used, for all Apple Watch models since the Series 6, a technology similar to a patent it had filed. He sued Apple in 2020.
2013: a man in the thick of the matter
But the dispute goes back much further than 2020. In 2013, Apple’s iconic CEO Tim Cook received an email from a connected health specialist. The latter works for Cercacor, a subsidiary of Masimo.
The next day, an Apple recruiter contacted the sender of the email, a certain Marcelo Lamego, an engineer specializing in medical technologies. Doctor in engineering, graduated from the prestigious Stanford University, he was hired a few weeks later at Apple.
From then on, a long process began during which Marcelo Lamego asked Apple to register a dozen patents linked to sensors and algorithms that would allow determining the level of oxygen in a person’s blood from a portable device (an oximeter, Editor’s note).
2013/2014: meeting and resignation
Before coming to Apple, Marcelo Lamego worked at Masimo as a scientific researcher from 2003 to 2006. He then became technical director of Cercacor laboratories, pioneers in non-invasive patient monitoring.
Masimo states that, in addition to Marcelo Lamego, around twenty employees have joined Apple, including its former chief doctor. A meeting between Apple and Masimo even took place in 2013. At that time, Apple was looking to develop and strengthen its work around a connected watch.
The two entities, which were not on the same wavelength, were unable to reach an agreement. In his 2020 indictment, Masimo mentioned that Apple had “used” the meeting for his benefit to “extract information” about oximeter technology.
Just a few months after his arrival, Marcelo Lamego resigned from Apple, considering that the company had obtained everything it needed. A hypothesis questioned by Steve Hotelling, a former Apple executive who worked on the iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro. “Lamego did not fit the company,” he said in a statement about the case between Masimo and Apple.
A brief experience for Marcelo Lamego, which would have been enough to reveal all of Masimo’s know-how to Apple. Masimo’s lawyers claim that the engineer lacked “prior knowledge on how to develop the oximeter (since his studies focused on neural sensors rather than health sensors), Editor’s note)” and that he had learned to “develop technology” at Masimo.
The Apple Watch was released in the spring of 2015. Although it is ahead of its time, it does not offer the possibility of measuring the level of oxygen in the blood.
2020/2023: complaints in all directions
Until January 2020, when Masimo decided to sue Apple, the latter had not revealed any technology more or less similar to the oximeter. But eight months later, the Apple Watch Series 6 was revealed to the general public. An emblematic function? Its ability to measure the level of oxygen in the blood.
The final blow for Masimo which, immediately in 2021, will file a new complaint against Apple, this time before the International Trade Center (ITC) for “patent infringement”.
In 2022, Masimo presented its “W1” to the public. A connected watch that takes the lines of an Apple Watch, but packed with sensors of all kinds, including the oximeter. Apple sees this as a form of provocation and will take legal action against Masimo. Apple accused Masimo of infringing five of its patents.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Masimo CEO Joe Kiani said Apple “should have done things differently.” “They (Apple employees, Editor’s note) have been caught red-handed and instead of being ashamed and doing the right thing, they blame everyone and fight everyone.”
2023/2024: the outcome… or almost?
The ITC ruled in favor of Masimo last October, ordering Apple to remove its watches from sale. Specifically, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 would stop being sold online as of December 21 and as of December 24 at physical points of sale.
A decision that came at the worst time for Apple, with the approach of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Business Insider estimates losses of between 300 and 400 million dollars (between 275 and 365 million euros). A colossal deficit.
Apple said it “deeply disagrees with these decisions” and promised to continue “analyzing legal and technical options” to guarantee the sale of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2.
Until then, only a veto by US President Joe Biden’s administration could overturn the ITC decision. But the White House, which had until December 25 to express itself, did not comment.
In a dead end, Apple has drawn its last card: appeal the decision adopted by the ITC. Pending the conclusion of the appeal procedure, a US federal court authorized the US company to re-market its two connected watches.
The final decision is still pending. Apple lawyers told Reuters that on January 13, US authorities will make a “decision on revised versions of the Apple Watch models” to determine whether Apple will be able to sell its connected watches again, on an ongoing basis, to the United States. Joined. State.
Source: BFM TV
