Apple Hit with $634 Million Verdict in Apple Watch Patent Fight
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A US federal jury has ruled that Apple is required to pay medical technology company Masimo $634 million for patent infringement related to the blood oxygen sensing technology in the Apple Watch, Reuters reports.
The verdict also saw jurors agree with Masimo that the Apple Watch’s heart rate notification features, as well as its workout mode, violated Masimo’s patents. As you might expect, Apple is planning to appeal the verdict.
The case hinged on whether the Apple Watch could be considered a “patient monitor,” which would support Masimo’s argument that the patent more directly applied to the wearable device. Meanwhile, on the other side of the legal aisle, Apple insisted that “patient monitor” was meant to refer to clinical monitoring equipment designed to monitor critical medical events.
Apple pointed out that the feature in the Apple Watch triggers only if the wearer is motionless for ten minutes — an intentional design to avoid being considered a “patient monitor,” a designation that requires “continuous” monitoring.
$634 million is one of the largest amounts ever awarded for consumer technology damages in the Central District of California. Although it sits at the low end of Masimo’s requested range — which topped out at $749 million — Apple had argued damages should fall between $3 million and $6 million.
In a press release, Masimo said, “We are pleased by this outcome, and appreciate the time and attention given to our case by the court and the jury. This is a significant win in our ongoing efforts to protect our innovations and intellectual property, which is crucial to our ability to develop technology that benefits patients. We remain committed to defending our IP rights moving forward.”
An Apple spokesperson responded in a statement to Reuters, saying, “Over the past six years (Masimo has) sued Apple in multiple courts and asserted over 25 patents, the majority of which have been found to be invalid. The single patent in this case expired in 2022, and is specific to historic patient monitoring technology from decades ago.”
A Parallel Fight at the ITC
A related Masimo complaint before the US International Trade Commission (ITC) resulted in a ban on importing and selling Apple Watch models with blood oxygen sensing in the US. After some legal back-and-forth, the ban came fully into force on January 18, 2024. Apple was allowed to continue selling the affected models only after US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that the blood oxygen feature had been rendered non-functional.
Apple was able to restore the feature in a mid-August 2025 software update using an alternative method of processing and displaying blood oxygen data on a paired iPhone, rather than on the Apple Watch — a method that US Customs and Border Protection ruled did not infringe on Masimo’s patents.
Once the feature was restored, it didn’t take long for Masimo to challenge CBP’s decision. A ruling has yet to be handed down in that lawsuit.
