US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Supports Apple in Dispute With Masimo Over MedTech in Watches

US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Supports Apple in Dispute With Masimo Over MedTech in Watches

The patent covers pulse oximeter technology that measures oxygen in the blood used in some models

A United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has backed a challenge launched by Apple at the US Patent and Trademark Office that found Masimo, the MedTech company’s patent claims relating to blood oxygen measurement, unpatentable.

In the interparties review petition at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), Apple argued that the claims were unpatentable because, apart from other facts, they would have been obvious over the prior art.

It was affirmed by the Appeals Court judges Lourie, Prost, and Reyna. They found the arguments of Masimo ‘unpersuasive’ and two claims in its patent relating to blood oxygen measurement unpatentable for obviousness.

Masimo had argued that PTAB’s use of the words ‘could’ and ‘reasonable’ showed that it applied an incorrect legal standard for obviousness.

However, the judges remarked that throughout the PTAB’s decision “It made findings about what a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do, not simply what the person could have done.”

The patent covers pulse oximeter technology that measures oxygen in the blood used in some models of Apple watches.

Apple is facing an import ban on certain models of Apple watches after the International Trade Commission, in October, found that it violated US laws by incorporating Masimo’s patented light-based pulse oximetry technology in its products.

Apple has been appealing the ruling and the ban was temporarily paused allowing sales of watches to resume in Apple stores in the US and on its website.

Masimo was represented by Jeremiah Helm, John M Grover, Stephen C Jensen, Shannon Lam, and Joseph R Re of California-headquartered IP firm Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear.

Lauren Ann Degnan, Michael John Ballanco, Walter Karl Renner, and Robert Courtney of IP law firm Fish & Richardson appeared for Apple.