Apple to halt US sales of Series 9, Ultra 2 smartwatches over patent dispute

TEUser2K1

Skilled
Apple to halt US sales of Series 9, Ultra 2 smartwatches over patent dispute

US trade tribunal rejects delay on import ban in Apple-Masimo dispute

Apple cannot repair older out-of-warranty watches during ban - Bloomberg News
-----------------------------
In court, Masimo detailed how Apple poached its top executives and more than a dozen other employees before later releasing a watch with pulse oximeter capabilities -- which measures the percentage of oxygen that red blood cells carry from the lungs to the body -- that were patented by Masimo. To avoid a complete ban on sales, Apple had two months to cut a deal with Masimo to license its technology, or it could appeal to the Biden administration to reverse the ruling. But Joe Kiani, the chief executive of Masimo, said in an interview that Apple had not engaged in licensing negotiations. Instead, he said that Apple had appealed to President Biden to veto the I.T.C. ruling, which Mr. Kiani knows because the administration contacted Masimo about Apple's request. "They're trying to make the agency look like it's helping patent trolls," Mr. Kiani said of the I.T.C.

Mr. Kiani said that he was willing to sell Apple a chip that Masimo had designed to provide pulse oximeter readings on the Apple Watch. The chip is currently in a Masimo medical watch, called the W1, that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The device uses algorithms to process red and near-infrared light to determine how oxygen-rich is the blood in arteries. "If they don't want to use our chip, I'll work with them to make their product good," Mr. Kiani said. "Once it's good enough, I'm happy to give them a license." Apple introduced its first watch with pulse oximetry in 2020. It has included the technology, which it calls "blood oxygen," in subsequent models. But unlike Masimo's W1 device, Apple hasn't had its watches cleared by the F.D.A. for use as a medical device for pulse oximetry.
-----------------------------
Stock of these watches may be over in year end sale...
 
A classic case of 'nothing's fair in love, war and capitalism.'

Apple poached its top executives and more than a dozen other employees

Can also be read as 'Apple offers higher salaries and better packages than we do so our employees voluntarily resigned.' It's really the best and worst of capitalism.

The device uses algorithms to process red and near-infrared light to determine how oxygen-rich is the blood in arteries.

There's only so many ways pulse oximetry can be done (likely just one way) so again, it's the best and worst of capitalism that it's been patented and monopolized.



It would be interesting to see how Apple works this out with Masimo.

It's unlikely they'll reuse Masimo's chip in their own design — that would be considered a failing by Apple's engineers who pride themselves in designing the entire watch in-house.

It seems also unlikely they'll share their design with Masimo in order to get a license for Masimo's patented technology because that would reveal/expose the fruits of Apple's own R&D which Masimo might then share with other licensees or use in their own products.

What does seem likely is that Apple will buy out Masimo, close down the company, and create a vacuum in the pulse oximetry market worldwide. I'm guessing they didn't want to do this so they sought to have the ITC ruling overturned. Maybe for the sake of the court of public opinion they would allow Masimo to continue operation as a subsidiary of Apple but that's management overhead that most companies are adverse to.

A fourth scenario would be to remove pulse oximetry from future products but that goes against everything they're hoping for Apple watch to be.

I remember when the Apple discreetly advised Nike to discontinue the Nike Fuel Band (my most favourite wearable tech of all time) because they were releasing the first Apple watch within a year and they would give/offer Nike their own version of that as compensation for Nike's R&D and other investments that they had made into the Fuel Band and other wearables and their apps (all of this is hearsay but that is exactly how it played out).

Stories like these are where I enjoy most pretending to be an armchair pundit.
 
Apparently, not their first rodeo.
The same misery happened to AliveCor, company which developed method to read ECG when paired with Apple watch. They won against Apple, could stop Apple from selling such watches, but Apple was able go to the patent board and try and strike down AliveCor’s patent. It worked. The board decided to allow sales to continue. And AliveCor was left holding the bag.

 
Patenting health related technologies is probably not the most altruistic vision a company can have.

But it's curious, once AliveCor's patent was invalidated, did that open for other manufacturers to make their own EKG wearables?

That sounds like a win for humanity (in a tragic way for AliveCor).

Apple appears have two worldviews when it comes intellectual property: defending user design (round corners) but not user experiences (multitouch). Maybe they thought no one could do multitouch as good as them so that's why it's so widespread despite Apple patenting the technology.

And some how, to them, electrocardiograms and pulse oximetry come under user experiences.
 
Apple is the only company in the world that I have seen infringing on other companies' IP, and then accuse those companies of copying when caught red-handed.

Just goes to show the Narcissistic values they harbour at the company.
 
Apple is the only company in the world that I have seen infringing on other companies' IP, and then accuse those companies of copying when caught red-handed.

Just goes to show the Narcissistic values they harbour at the company.
Pretty sure this pattern of behavior isn't new. Apple isn't the first nor will it be the last. That's why the ip protection laws exist.
 
Apple watch: US upholds ban on sale over patent dispute


Apple has once again been banned from selling two smartwatch models in the US, while a legal battle continues over a patent dispute.
I really hope apple gets shown their place with regards to bullying smaller companies

And hoping Massimo gets a big fat cheque once all this settles

It's irresponsible to behave like this when they are one of the largest companies in the world with cash reserves that rival some countries.
 
It'll be interesting to see the opposite happen.

If Apple invalidates Masimo's IP, this'll open up the technology for emerging markets like ours — making it more accessible.

Healthcare should be a universal human right and health related technologies shouldn't have a price tag beyond the cost of manufacturing.

There are many other ventures in this world where capitalism can reign supreme, healthcare shouldn't be one of them.
 
Would like to be neutral about both companies in this, let ethics and justice prevail.

There are some allegations about Massimo acting like patent troll, don't know the reality about that.
However, Apple did this same trick to other companies earlier. Apple poaching Massimo engineers, while also colluding with other mega corpns about cross hiring restricting engineer's freedom in their career, etc. looks totally unethical.

@rsaeon
Sadly, mega corpns from USA / west started investing big monies in Indian health care sector. Also, health insurance sector is rising like anything. When big monies without ethics are involved, you can predict the result. Unfortunate reality...
 



 
This was indirectly a win for Masimo, actually.

The article conveniently (and intentionally) omits the major talking point of this jury ruling - Apple lawyers wanted injunction against sales of Masimo’s smartwatches - a direct retaliation to what Masimo did to Apple last year.
Capture.PNG

Capture2.PNG

Instead, no injunction was introduced and Apple was given a measly $250 in damages, which Apple fed to the public as some type of propaganda, so that they can turn around the consumer narrative. No wonder the news outlet didn't report this important fact.
 
Back
Top