Apple Watch facing ban over Masimo’s patent infringement case

Apple Watch has become involved in a patent dispute with Masimo Corp., and this has put Apple's smartwatch at risk of being banned. Earlier this year, an administrative judge of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favor of Masimo, which means he found that the Apple Watch Series 6 indeed copied one of Masimo's five patents.

Apple Watch was found to have violated the patent owned by Masimo company. The ruling was handed down in January this year and is about the light sensor in the smartwatch which determines levels of blood oxygen through the wearable's pulse oximeter.

As per Fox Business, the judge's decision may lead to the banning of Apple from importing its smartwatches. Then again, the ruling has been sent to the U.S. ITC for review, and they will make the final decision on this intellectual property dispute.

Then again, the judge did not find evidence that Apple infringed the four other patents that Masimo Corp. claimed the iPhone maker also copied. The ITC has the power to impose an importation ban on products that are found to violate intellectual property rights, and the commission is likely to hand over its full decision this spring.

Masimo already asked the ITC to execute an exclusion order that will stop the imports of Apple Watch products. On top of this, a cease and desist order is also being requested.

Judge Monica Bhattacharyya said in the initial ruling that she "recommends that the Commission issue a limited exclusion order directed to Apple's importation of infringing wearable electronic devices with light-based pulse oximetry functionality and components thereof."

Finally, she refused to grant Masimo's request for a bond amounting to 100% of the value of the items in question. The judge explained that the company "failed to establish the need for a bond in this investigation" as there is no evidence that shows a Masimo Watch is available for sale to consumers.

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