Apple Wins ITC Ruling, Keeping Blood-Oxygen Feature on Apple Watch

A U.S. trade tribunal sided with Apple on Friday, rejecting Masimo Corporation's push to reinstate an import ban on Apple Watch. The U.S. International Trade Commission chose not to review an earlier judge's ruling that Apple's redesigned smartwatches no longer violate Masimo's patents covering blood-oxygen monitoring technology, effectively closing the case at the commission level.

Masimo, now owned by Danaher, retains the option to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington. The company declined to issue a public statement following the decision. Apple, however, was vocal in its response. "We thank the ITC for its decision, which ensures we can continue to offer this important health feature to our users," the company said, adding that Masimo had spent over six years pursuing legal action, with nearly all of its claims ultimately failing.

The legal battle between the two companies stretches back years, rooted in Masimo's allegations that Apple poached key engineers to gain access to proprietary pulse-oximetry technology used for measuring blood oxygen levels. That dispute led to a significant setback for Apple in December 2023, when the ITC blocked imports of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 after determining they infringed Masimo's patents. To sidestep the ban, Apple temporarily disabled the blood-oxygen feature before reintroducing a redesigned version last August following clearance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The updated watches now display blood-oxygen data on paired iPhones rather than directly on the watch face.

Masimo continues to fight on multiple fronts. The company has separately challenged Customs' approval of the redesigned devices and is pursuing Apple in California federal court for patent infringement and trade-secret theft. That case yielded a $634 million jury verdict against Apple in November, a ruling Apple has vowed to appeal.