$2 billion Apple Watch patent battle ends in mistrial

The ongoing US District Court lawsuit from Masimo against Apple ended Monday with a mistrial after jurors couldn't reach a unanimous vote.

Masimo is a medical firm suing Apple for stealing trade secrets to build the Apple Watch. It won its preliminary case with the International Trade Commission, but Masimo also brought its charges in front of the US District Court in April.

According to a tweet from Mark Gurman, that trial has ended in a mistrial. Earlier Monday, a Bloomberg report suggested that six of seven jurors had ruled in favor of Apple, but a unanimous vote was needed.

The Masimo v. Apple trial around patents for the Apple Watch/Health technologies ends in a mistrial. https://t.co/6kOzBtcF7i
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) May 1, 2023

The judge told the jurors to continue deliberating, and that he wouldn't use a so-called "Allen charge" to force a verdict. Gurman didn't share the details of why the mistrial occurred, but it seems likely that it is due to the jury not reaching a unanimous verdict.

"We thank the jury for their careful consideration in this case," Apple said in a statement to AppleInsider. "We deeply respect intellectual property and innovation and do not take or use confidential information from other companies. We are pleased that the court correctly rejected half of the plaintiffs' trade secret allegations, and will now ask the court to dismiss the remaining claims."

This latest development doesn't bode well for Masimo's case, but it isn't the end. The trial will likely be on hold until the plaintiffs decide how to move forward.

"While we are disappointed that the jury was unable to reach a verdict, we intend to retry the case and continue to pursue legal redress against Apple," a Masimo spokesperson shared in a statement to AppleInsider. "As we begin that process, the United States Trade Commission is scheduled in the coming months to decide whether to ban the importation of certain models of the Apple Watch, following a ruling last year by an Administrative Law Judge that Apple infringed one of Masimo's patents for pulse oximetry."

Masimo sought nearly $2 billion in damages, and depending on the outcome, the trial could have resulted in an Apple Watch ban. Read about the witness testimonies from earlier in the trial to understand the scope of Masimo's accusations.

Update May 1, 7:35 p.m. EST: Added statements from Apple and Masimo.

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13 Comments

9secondkox2 3124 comments · 8 Years

About 1 year ago

Going to go on forever.

laytech 342 comments · 15 Years

I'm tired of patent trolls. Some are funded by investment companies, hoping to make a quick buck. Ultimately, it's the lawyers that win at the end of the day, and everyone else suffers because of it. We are losing our way.

Ofer 269 comments · 8 Years

laytech said:

I'm tired of patent trolls. Some are funded by investment companies, hoping to make a quick buck. Ultimately, it's the lawyers that win at the end of the day, and everyone else suffers because of it. We are losing our way.

Masimo isn’t a patent troll. They’re suing based on actual tech which they developed. I’m not saying that they’re right in their assumption that Apple stole their tech. But they’re not just sitting on a patent for something they didn’t actually develop.

chasm 3590 comments · 10 Years

laytech said:

I'm tired of patent trolls. Some are funded by investment companies, hoping to make a quick buck. Ultimately, it's the lawyers that win at the end of the day, and everyone else suffers because of it. We are losing our way.

You really should have read the linked earlier articles. Masimo is absolutely not a patent troll, they are a major medical technology company who developed and patented these technologies. That said, they are down to one possible case of infringement on a single Masimo patent for pulse oximetry, and the judge here can still rule against them on that (taking a cue from the way the jury was leaning), so Masimo seems to be on shaky ground with everyone but the ITC, which will have to reconsider their own judgement if the federal court wipes out Masimo's remaining charge.

I expect that if that happens, Masimo will have to accept a settlement in order to drop the ITC case.

charlesn 1153 comments · 11 Years

Not only is Masimo not a patent troll, as others have stated, but Apple's behavior here was pretty sleazy. Unfortunately for Masimo, sleazy doesn't mean illegal. After expressing interest in possibly incorporating Masimo pulse oximetry tech into Apple Watch, Apple instead poached two top execs with deep knowledge of the tech by doubling their salaries and offering millions in stock options. It sucks that a behemoth with mountains of cash like Apple gets to crush a smaller innovator like Masimo, but again, that's not necessarily illegal to do. There can be no doubt that the knowledge these execs had of Masimo's pulse oximetry tech helped Apple to develop what it uses in the Apple Watch--Apple didn't back up the cash truck for them just because they had good people skills--but as long as Apple's version doesn't violate any of Masimo's patents, I"m not sure what recourse there is for Masimo.