A U.S. District Court in Washington slammed the door on Masimo Corp.’s latest push against Apple Inc.’s smartwatches. On April 24, 2026, the court dismissed with prejudice the medical-device maker’s complaint targeting the U.S. International Trade Commission and Customs and Border Protection. All parties agreed to the move. Gone—for now—is Masimo’s shot at reinstating an import ban on Apple Watches equipped with blood-oxygen tech. AppleInsider broke the news first, detailing how the filing followed the ITC’s own rejection of Masimo’s plea just a week earlier.
The saga stretches back to 2020. Masimo accused Apple of poaching talent and swiping pulse-oximetry secrets for the Apple Watch’s blood-oxygen sensor. By 2021, Masimo lodged an ITC complaint over Series 6 models. Victory came in late 2023: the ITC barred U.S. imports of infringing watches, yanking Series 9 and Ultra 2 off shelves right before Christmas. Apple dodged disaster with a swift software tweak, disabling the feature stateside. U.S. Customs greenlit imports by January 2024. AppleInsider tracked the ITC’s April 17, 2026, denial of Masimo’s bid to revive the ban.
But Apple didn’t stop there. Come August 2025, it rolled out ‘Redesign 2’—a reworked version piping blood-oxygen data to paired iPhones, not the watch face itself. Administrative Law Judge Monica Bhattacharyya ruled March 18, 2026, that this sidestepped infringement of Masimo’s U.S. Patent Nos. 10,912,502 and 10,945,648. No direct violation. No induced infringement via iPhone pairing. The ITC let that stand on April 17, closing the enforcement probe. “The accused redesigned products do not infringe the Asserted Patents,” the commission declared. Bloomberg Law captured the judge’s findings.
Apple crowed. “We thank the ITC for its decision, which ensures we can continue to offer this important health feature to our users,” a spokesperson said. “For more than six years, Masimo has waged a relentless legal campaign against Apple, and nearly all of its claims have been rejected.” Reuters quoted the statement after the ITC’s move.
Masimo stayed mum on the rulings. A spokesperson declined comment to Reuters. Yet the company notched wins elsewhere. November 2025 brought a $634 million jury verdict in California federal court over Patent No. 10,433,776—tied to heart-rate notifications and workout modes, not pure blood oxygen. Apple called it flawed. It’s appealing. Judge James V. Selna heard arguments in March 2026 to toss or retry, but no final call yet. Reuters noted the ongoing fight.
Complicating matters: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On March 19, 2026, it upheld the ITC’s original 2023 infringement call in Apple Inc. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n. Judge Leonard P. Stark wrote for the panel: no error in domestic industry findings, validity calls, or infringement. The old watches stay banned. But Redesign 2? Clear. “The Commission did not rely on a ‘hypothetical’ article as Apple wrongly asserts,” Stark noted, backing Masimo’s prototypes and data. Bloomberg Law.
So where does this leave the players? Apple sells freely. Blood-oxygen readings flow—to iPhones, at least. Masimo eyes appeals to the Federal Circuit by mid-June 2026 on the district dismissal and ITC closeout. That $634 million dangles, too. Patents expire by August 2028; Apple could flip the switch then. Six years in, billions at stake. Courts keep picking winners, losers. Battles rage on.
Industry watchers see a pattern. Masimo, now under Danaher Corp., proved import bans bite—but redesigns blunt them. Apple engineers pivoted fast, twice. Lawyers feast. For wearables makers, the message lands hard: patent thickets demand constant vigilance. One sensor tweak. Years of trials. And still, no full knockout.
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