In all honesty I do not think patents should be handed out for final products (e.g., electronics, drugs, etc.). They should be given for the process of manufacturing them. Then companies would compete to reduce manufacturing costs rather than soak up profits from a lack of competition. Imagine how this would work for drugs used in medicine.
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Apple Pausing Sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in U.S. Due to Patent Dispute
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This is a good way to drive up sales before the holidays. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN lol
You would need technical lawyers to even understand if you are in violation of a patent. Its crazy how many patents all the major tech companies file each year.
I doubt it. It would be a major blow as many other competing watches have this feature.
I suspect they would come to some arrangement with Massimo.
Big news like others have said, but I'm sure Apple will resolve this soon. I was actually thinking about upgrading to the Apple Watch Ultra 2 from my Ultra when it was first announced, but all the reviews have said that's it just not worth upgrading. My current plan is to purchase a new Ultra 2 Band and switch it with my Ultra band. I like the newest Band over the older one and it will also give my Ultra the Ultra 2 look as well for a way cheaper price.
The fact that they even released new products breaking the very same patent from a dispute which started in 2021 (?) tells me Apple doesn’t know how to do it without. Also quiet courageous
Apple has been stealing for years. Using An Apple Mouse? Stolen (Xerox) Like the desktop icons on your Mac? Stolen (Xerox) Perhaps Apple needs to stop selling all of its products until we find out what’s stolen and what isn’t.
Precedence. Did they lose, or is this a pause while they prove that nothing was stolen?
Brilliant engineers on opposite sides of the planet can come up with the same solution. The first to patent gets a license to call the other a thief. Crazy world we live in.
Apple Watch 10/Ultra 3 announcement: "We're streamlined the number of metrics measured to ensure only the most meaningful health metrics are provided to you rather than a overwhelming set of data... because at Apple we care" (about the bottom line).
I disagree. As an engineer, intellectual property is extremely important. Patent law enforces the proper use of such property. If Apple did indeed infringe it, they should not be allowed to monetize from it.
That's like saying Ford stole the design for the wheel. 🤔
Apple never stole something that was being protected. Xerox didn't see a future with GUIs, and Mac OS was far more sophisticated at first release.
Masimo isn't a little guy this two giants fighting it out.
What’s more, Masimo doesn’t use the transflective method of detecting SpO2 because of accuracy issues. Maybe Masimo has a point about poaching talent (though, unless Masimo makes the employees sign a non-compete clause*, they don’t really have legal legs to stand on when it comes to poaching), but the Apple Watch doesn’t actually seem to be in direct competition, and I don’t think they’ve ever conclusively shown that they hold non-trivial patents on transflective** SpO2 detection.
* Assuming non-compete clauses are enforceable in their industry and state(s), some states (California comes to mind) have moved to block them or reduce their enforceability.
** Shining a light into the skin and detecting backscatter, instead of shining through the skin to a detector on the other side (the way blood oxygen saturation measurement is typically done). The approach seems to be less accurate but is necessary because the Apple Watch doesn’t have active bands that can act as detectors.
Hot take: Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 had virtually zero new features, low customer engagement, sales are in the toilet, and Tim & Maestri will have the ITC to blame for lack of sales come next Q earnings call.
I mean, I guess compared to Apple, but they aren't a "little guy". Masimo is 35 years old, has almost 2,500 employees and has an income of almost $2 billion/year.
I wish I had the ability to just up and pay $3,000,000,000 to make my problems go away as if I was buying another watch band on eBay, just like any other monday morning.
There was a threat it would have to pull iPhone 4 (after iPhone 5 had been introduced) because it infringed Samsung patents. President Obama overruled the ban, which hadn't taken effect just yet.
This might be a bit more of an ELI10 or ELI15, but here goes. Masimo is a big player in the medical devices industry and has a lot of patents on blood oxygen detection (which is useful for things like asthma, respiratory issues, sleep apnea, athletic performance enhancement). Apple hired quite a few Masimo employees in order to bring blood oxygen detection to the Apple Watch. Masimo claims that Apple couldn’t have brought it to the Watch without the know how from the Masimo employees they hired. So, Masimo claims that they should be listed as co-owners of Apple’s patents regarding blood oxygen detection*, and Masimo is claiming nearly $2 billion worth of damages. Masimo asked for an import ban against the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 until the patent dispute is resolved and got it.
* The Apple Watch does it in a different way than it is normally done due to how the watch is designed.