Medical technology company Masimo sues Apple, claims it infringes on 10 patents and has stolen its tech related to blood oxygen level and heart rate monitoring
- Medical technology company says Watch uses stolen secrets — Apple accused of stealing technology for non-invasive monitors
Context & Ripple Effects
This January 2020 filing is the opening shot of what became a multi-year Masimo–Apple war over the Watch's health sensors. Masimo, a pulse-oximetry specialist, accused Apple of infringing ten patents and lifting trade secrets for blood-oxygen and heart-rate measurement — the exact features that turned the Watch into a medical-adjacent device.
The corpus shows how far the dispute escalated from here: Apple countered with its own suit, alleging Masimo studied Apple's IP while litigating to build its W1 watch; an ITC judge later ruled that some Watches infringe one of five Masimo pulse-oximeter patents; and by late 2025 a California jury handed Masimo a $634M award over a blood-oxygen patent used in workout and heart-rate alerts.
First-order effects
- Apple must now defend the Watch's flagship health features in court while facing potential redesigns or feature removals if infringement findings stick.
- Masimo converts its sensor patent portfolio into direct leverage against the largest wearable maker, at the cost of open litigation across multiple fronts.
Second-order effects
- Apple's countersuit reframes Masimo as an IP borrower rather than just a victim, raising the stakes for Masimo's own W1 watch ambitions in consumer wearables.
- The fight spills into trade enforcement: Masimo later sues US Customs over a ruling that let Apple reactivate the blood-oxygen tracking feature, showing both sides fighting over whether banned functionality can return to market.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, medical-device patent holders become recurring claimants against big-tech wearables, with the ITC and CBP — not just federal courts — serving as venues that can force feature shutdowns.
- Health sensing shifts from a differentiator Apple controls freely to licensed or contested territory, structurally raising the cost of shipping biometric features on consumer devices.
The trend: Wearable health sensors are turning into a litigation battleground where medtech patent holders extract concessions from consumer-tech giants through courts and trade agencies alike.