In a six-year patent and trade secret dispute with the medical technology company Masimo, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled to uphold the International Trade Commission’s (ITC) previous determination that Apple infringed on Masimo’s patents related to pulse oximetry measurement and required Apple to bear the litigation costs. However, almost at the same time, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a new ruling that made it clear that Apple does not need to take further remedial measures in this case, and there will be no new round of Apple Watch import bans.
The focus of this appeal stems from an earlier ITC ruling, when the ITC determined that the pulse oximeter function used for blood oxygen monitoring in Apple Watch was suspected of misappropriating Masimo's trade secrets and infringing its patents. Masimo immediately requested an import ban on Apple Watch. The ITC also made a decision in October 2023 to ban related models of Apple Watch from being imported into the United States. In December of the same year, it rejected Apple's appeal to stop the ban.
According to IP Fray, an intellectual property observation website, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals’ judgment on Apple’s appeal only confirmed in one sentence that it “affirmed the original ruling” without giving detailed reasons. Its case record only added that the appeal “ended on substantive issues” after oral arguments, at Apple’s expense. On the surface, this means that Masimo has won the appeal battle procedurally, but the subsequent disclosure of new ITC documents significantly weakened the actual significance of this victory.
In its latest ruling issued on March 18, the ITC itemized a number of patents previously involved in the case and concluded that Apple did not infringe any of the claims at this stage. The document repeatedly mentions the so-called "Apple Redesign 2 Watch," which is generally interpreted as Apple's second round of technical adjustments to Apple Watch-related functions through software updates, thereby bypassing the implementation method that was previously accused of infringement. Based on this determination, the ITC made it clear that Apple does not need to take any further remedial measures. In other words, the new version of Apple Watch no longer faces the risk of new import or sales bans.
When the pressure for the ban first emerged, Apple took the initiative to suspend the import and sales of affected Apple Watch models, and simultaneously promoted a plan to circumvent suspected infringing functions through software updates. At the same time, litigation between the two parties is still advancing on other fronts: In November 2025, Masimo obtained a compensation award of approximately US$634 million in a federal jury trial, which has not yet been affected by the latest ITC and appeals court documents.
Masimo called the jury verdict at the time "a significant victory in our continued efforts to protect our innovations and intellectual property." Apple said in response that the ruling was "contrary to the facts" and emphasized that Masimo is a "medical device company that does not sell products directly to consumers." Judging from the current situation, Masimo has retained its earlier ITC determination and high jury compensation at the legal level. However, at the import ban level, which has the most market influence, as Apple completes the technical bypass through the so-called "Redesign 2" version, what it has obtained is more like an "empty victory" with symbolic significance than substantial benefits.