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ITC Judge Rules Apple Watch Blood Oxygen Workaround Does Not Infringe Masimo Patents

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Apple's current blood oxygen sensing implementation in the U.S. does not infringe on patents owned by Masimo and Apple will not face a revived import ban, a U.S. International Trade Commission judge said this week (via Reuters).

apple-watch-series-6-blood-oxygen-monitoring-1.jpg

After Apple was found to have violated Masimo's patents related to blood oxygen sensing, the Apple Watch faced a U.S. import ban that caused Apple to briefly pause sales of the device in December 2023 before Apple earned a temporary stay. Apple disabled blood oxygen sensing in January 2024, and was able to resume selling the Apple Watch without the functionality.

In August 2025, Apple found a workaround and was able to bring blood oxygen sensing back to U.S. Apple Watch owners. Data is collected by the blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch, but it is processed on a paired iPhone rather than the watch itself, and the resulting information can only be viewed on the iPhone. Apple said the updated process did not violate the ITC ban, or infringe on Masimo's patents, and it was cleared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Masimo did not agree with the decision and it quickly filed a lawsuit against CBP, accusing the agency of acting unlawfully and exceeding its authority. Masimo also pushed the ITC to look into whether Apple's solution violated the original import ban.

The ITC ended up siding with Apple, and said that Apple's workaround does not violate Masimo patents. Since today's decision is preliminary, the full commission will need to affirm the ruling.

Though Apple scored a win with the ITC, Masimo came out ahead in a separate appeals ruling today. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the original 2023 ITC decision that led to the Apple Watch import ban. The appeals court said that the Apple Watch did indeed infringe on Masimo's patents, and it declined to overturn the ban.

Apple said that it would continue to investigate "all avenues for further review" in light of the appeals court decision.

In November 2025, Apple also lost the patent infringement lawsuit that Masimo filed against it. A federal jury awarded Masimo $634 million, which Apple is appealing.

Article Link: ITC Judge Rules Apple Watch Blood Oxygen Workaround Does Not Infringe Masimo Patents
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/19/itc-apple-watch-workaround-valid/
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Think|Different said:
Good! Enough of these patent trolls, legit or otherwise....
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If it's legit, how can it be a troll?

Patent troll is someone with no actual use of the acquired IP. Massimo is a legit company making medical grade devices with those same patents used by professionals to treat thousands of people every day. It may be inconvenient for Apple Watch users but don't throw around names without understanding what it means. Your anger is misplaced.

Real trolls are the drug companies squeezing millions in profits a year by exploiting the loopholes in the patent system.
 
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Think|Different said:
Good! Enough of these patent trolls, legit or otherwise....
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Well, Masimo did develop the tech and monetizes it by making products with the tech. If that is a patent troll, how do you expect companies to go about protecting their IP?
Or, they should just give Apple whatever tech they want since they are "the good guys"? IP is just for Apple, everyone should just bend over and give Apple what they want?
 
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"The appeals court said that the Apple Watch did indeed infringe on Masimo's patents, and it declined to overturn the ban."

So what's keeping Apple from offering Masimo some money so they can go back to offering this feature without a workaround? Pride? It certainly isn't a lack of money.
 
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venom600 said:
Can someone enlighten me on why Apple doesn't just license the tech (or buy the rights outright)? I use the blood oxygen feature quite a bit and it is annoying to have to grab my phone just to see results.
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this has been going on for many years, rumors say that Masimo asked for like $50 per watch for a licensing fee, I can't remember the rumored fee but it was extremely high
 
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Black_Mage said:
"The appeals court said that the Apple Watch did indeed infringe on Masimo's patents, and it declined to overturn the ban."

So what's keeping Apple from offering Masimo some money so they can go back to offering this feature without a workaround? Pride? It certainly isn't a lack of money.
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"If memory serves me right" (with apologies to Chairman Kaga), Apple was able to successfully have most of the patents Masimo claimed were infringed on ruled as non-infringing by the court, leaving only one or two patents that were ruled as infringing (but they were major patents, hence the amount of the judgement). Those patents are set to expire within the next 12-24 months, so at this point, Apple appears to just want to wait them out.

As for licensing those few patents at the time they were ruled infringed, I have heard claims Masimo wanted as little as $20 to as much as $200 per watch.
 
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At this point Apples just gonna run out the clock on those patents. Masimos only other income comes from the disposal o2 sensor you get when your in the hospital. Had a few last year when I was in the hospital several times.
 
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hieranonymous said:
Time for Massimo to be sold for scraps to some no-name Chinese OEM.
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We use Massimo products in clinical healthcare heavily. Please don't.

Think|Different said:
Good! Enough of these patent trolls, legit or otherwise....
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Massimo has been making and selling O2 sensors, for healthcare use, for longer than the Apple Watch has existed. They are far from a patent troll.

I'm not saying I support Massimo in this case, but a patent troll they are not. I gave up on the Apple Watch about six months ago, so no skin off my back either way.
 
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easy4lif said:
At this point Apples just gonna run out the clock on those patents. Masimos only other income comes from the disposal o2 sensor you get when your in the hospital. Had a few last year when I was in the hospital several times.
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They also have a device used by the American Red Cross. When you make a platelet, plasma, or whole blood donation they do a mini physical on you. They connect you to a machine the checks your blood oxygen, hemoglobin, and blood pressure. Noticed the brand on it is Masimo.
 
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Black_Mage said:
So what's keeping Apple from offering Masimo some money so they can go back to offering this feature without a workaround? Pride? It certainly isn't a lack of money.
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I'm guessing a combination of pride and impedance mismatch on what constitutes a "fair and reasonable price". I imagine Masimo would readily agree if Apple offered, say, $1 trillion, but Apple would never offer that. The problem is finding a number that Masimo is willing to accept that Apple is also willing to pay.
 
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As much as I want to dismiss Massimo as a patent troll, they’re obviously not. They’re a legit medical tech corporation.

If they really did demand exorbitant licensing costs from Apple per-watch, then I don’t blame ‘em for just waiting things out. I’m perfectly happy with the workaround as-is and I’m just glad to HAVE the functionality again in whatever form.
 
Does Apple actually pay companies to license patented tech? I remember back when Cover Flow was the coolest thing in iTunes, and when the patent owner wanted compensation Apple just took it out.
 
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The only ones making out on this fiasco are the lawyers..... Apple sold the BO monitor for years before the ban........ Give it up Massimo and do some new innovation...Perhaps if you offered and aggressively marketed very attractive licensing fees to Apple you would have ended up making A LOT of money long ago rather than giving it all to lawyers. ...............pennies per watch really would have added up to your bottom line!!.......
 
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yossi said:
JUST PAY THEM ROYALTIES so I can use a major feature on my watch instead of having to go to my phone. The greed at apple knows no bounds
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Conversely...... The greed at Massimo knows no bounds....... It takes two litigate without an agreement...... A deal years ago may have been possible but often small tech companies with a "patent" often overplay their hand....
 
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