Masimo's long-time lawsuit over Apple Watch patent infringement has encountered another setback, as a U.S. District Court filing reveals the complaint against the USITC will be dismissed with prejudice.
The USITC's (United States International Trade Commission) decision to deny a reinstatement of a ban on the Apple Watch has turned into a hurdle for Masimo in its long-running blood oxygen patent lawsuit against Apple. In an April 24 filing by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a complaint against the USITC about a ban has been dealt with.
The filing, detailing a complaint between Masimo and the ITC, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, explains a brief history of the court's dealings with the ITC. While it doesn't mention the Apple Watch directly, it's all about the patent infringement suit with Apple and the implementation and dismissal of a ban.
On March 19, an Administrative Law Judge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit backed the original ITC ruling from October 2023 that banned the Apple Watch from being imported into the United States. However, crucially for Apple and one day before the Appeals ruling, the ITC ruled that there was no point to implementing a second ban on the wearable.
One month later, on April 17, the ITC denied a request by Masimo to reinstate the ban, declining to review the preliminary ruling and closed the case.
The new April 24 District Court states that all parties in the Masimo vs ITC and Customs and Border Protection complaint have agreed to dismiss it with prejudice. A "proposed stipulation of dismissal" will be filed in the future.
This doesn't mean the lawsuit is over, as is almost always the case for high-profile and expensive cases. Masimo can still appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, with a deadline of a notice of appeal set for June 16, 2026.
For Apple, the filing means that there's no immediate risk of another sales ban instigated by Masimo for the Apple Watch. It still doesn't allow Apple to restore heart rate viewing on the Apple Watch, only on the iPhone.
The story so far
The lawsuit started in 2020, when Masimo filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. A complaint was filed to the ITC in 2021.
The original lawsuit was a mistrial in 2023, however Masimo won the ITC case the same year. It then resulted in a banon U.S. imports of infringing Apple Watch,
A workaround in the form of a software update disabling the blood oxygen feature in the United States was enough to convince the Customs and Border Protection Agency to lift the ban in January 2024.
Later, in November 2025, Masimo won a $634 million verdict in a federal jury trial.
