At the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, Apple wasn’t able to sell either its Apple Watch Series 9 or its flagship Apple Watch Ultra 2 in any of its stores in the United States. A patent dispute with the company Masimo over the use of its blood oxygen sensor meant that Apple was temporarily blocked from selling either wearable, with the watches only back on sale after the company removed certain functionality to comply with the ruling.
There was a risk of history repeating itself, with another company — AliveCor — alleging that Apple had infringed patents related to heart-rate monitoring on certain models of Apple Watch. The multi-year legal battle has now seemingly come to an end with Apple in the clear, and its wearables no longer at risk.
This week, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the previous verdict of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that concluded all three of AliveCor’s patents were unpatentable. This is generally the outcome when courts conclude that patents are either obvious or too generic to enforce.
“We thank the Federal Circuit for its careful consideration in this case,” an Apple statement reads. “Apple’s teams have worked tirelessly over many years to develop industry-leading health, wellness and safety features that meaningfully impact users’ lives, and we intend to stay on this path.”
Naturally, AliveCor had a different perspective, with the company stating that it was “deeply disappointed by the court’s decisions.”
Arguing that it and other small companies’ innovations are “at risk of being suppressed by a Goliath,” AliveCor suggested that this might not be over just yet.
“We will continue to explore all available legal options, including potential appeals, to defend our position that our patents are valid and that Apple infringed our intellectual property rights,” the company said.
No change to Apple Watch — this time
This will come as a relief to Apple. Heart rate monitoring is an integral part of the Apple Watch’s appeal, and having to change or remove the feature would have been a huge blow — far more serious than losing its ability to monitor blood oxygen levels as it did in its case with Masimo.
The company is still feeling the effects of that court loss, even today. While pre-ban Apple Watches have access to the feature, those sold in the United States afterward — including the recently released Apple Watch Series 10 — do not.
There have been no updates about what Apple intends to do about that. The last we heard was from February 2024, when CEO Tim Cook sent a statement to CNBC making it clear that the company had no intention of licensing Masimo’s patents. "We're focused on appeal," Cook's statement said. "There's lots of reasons to buy the watch even without the blood oxygen sensor."
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