For over three years now, Apple has been entrenched in a messy legal battle over a single feature on the Apple Watch \u2014 and Apple\u2019s opponent, medical device maker Masimo, seems confident it can win. And there\u2019s a good reason Masimo might believe that: the company came out on top when it sued True Wearables, a startup run by a former executive with a stint on the Apple Watch team, on similar grounds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In 2018, Masimo filed a complaint against<\/a> True Wearables over claims its wireless pulse oximeter<\/a> infringed on Masimo\u2019s patent. The court sided with Masimo and issued a permanent injunction<\/a> against the sale of the device in December 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sound familiar? Well, the pulse oximeter tech isn\u2019t the only parallel between Masimo\u2019s cases against True Wearables and Apple: before starting True Wearables, founder and CEO Marcelo Lamego worked at both Masimo and Apple, where he helped develop similar technologies. Lamego plays a key role in Masimo\u2019s lawsuit, as the company alleges Apple couldn\u2019t have developed some of the technology for the Apple Watch without him \u2014 although Apple sees things a bit differently.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While at Masimo and its sister company, Ceracor, Lamego had \u201cunfettered access\u201d to \u201chighly confidential technical information,\u201d while also receiving training from its \u201cmost skilled engineers and scientists,\u201d according to Masimo\u2019s 2020 lawsuit<\/a> against Apple. He also worked closely with the team that developed non-invasive sensors and monitors for vitals like blood oxygen levels. Then, after over 10 years of working for Masimo, Lamego expressed interest in working at Apple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lamego wrote an email<\/a> to Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2013, offering to help Apple develop a \u201cnew wave of technology\u201d that would make it \u201cthe number one brand in the medical, fitness and wellness device\u201d industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI have developed several medical devices in the last 10 years,\u201d Lamego wrote. \u201cI am positively sure I could add a significant value to the Apple team, if I was given the chance of becoming part of it in a senior technical executive position and without conflicting with the large IP I have developed for Masimo and Ceracor during the same period.\u201d An Apple recruiter followed up hours later, court documents show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lamego joined Apple in 2014 and is named as an inventor of several of the company\u2019s health-related patents that were \u201cclosely tied\u201d to his work at Masimo, according to Masimo\u2019s lawsuit against True Wearables. While on the Apple Watch team, he also played a role in hiring engineers, reviewing hardware and algorithm architectures, and advising teams on bio-sensing capabilities, as listed on his LinkedIn profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, as pointed out by Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>, Lamego left Apple mere months after joining because he \u201cclashed with managers, demanded multimillion-dollar budgets and wanted the ability to hire his own engineers without approval.\u201d That\u2019s when Lamego went on to start his own company, True Wearables, which Masimo claimed used its technology when developing the Oxxiom, a wireless and disposable pulse oximeter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lamego\u2019s quick departure from Apple meant he wasn\u2019t around when Apple released the Watch Series 6<\/a> \u2014 the first one with the blood oxygen sensor Masimo claims Apple copied. Still, Masimo is pushing for ownership of the health-related patents Lamego developed for Apple. Masimo claims Lamego developed the patents\u2019 subject matter while he was employed by Ceracor and because of this, Lamego \u201chad an obligation to assign said subject matter, patents, and patent applications to their employer, Masimo and Cercacor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One year after its win against True Wearables, Masimo CEO Joe Kiani is turning up the heat on Apple<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Apple views Lamego\u2019s time at the company differently: it alleges that neither Lamego nor the other Masimo employees it hired were involved in the creation of the products and features Masimo is suing over. In its argument against<\/a> having Cook and Apple COO Jeff Williams deposed, Apple says Lamego\u2019s email to Cook came \u201cyears before development began on the accused products,\u201d implying that the two events were unrelated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Apple released its first Watch, which only came with a heart rate sensor, the year after Lamego left, and it didn\u2019t add a blood oxygen sensor until 2020. That doesn\u2019t change the fact that Apple also hired other former Masimo employees, Masimo argues. One of those employees is former Masimo executive Michael O\u2019Reilly, who started at Apple in 2013 and currently works on the company\u2019s Health Special Projects team, according to his LinkedIn profile<\/a>. Masimo claims O\u2019Reilly was \u201cprivy to extremely sensitive information,\u201d such as information about mobile medical products, wellness applications, and clinical data gathering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One year after its win against True Wearables, Masimo CEO Joe Kiani is turning up the heat on Apple. \u201cThis is not an accidental infringement \u2014 this is a deliberate taking of our intellectual property,\u201d Kiani said in an interview with Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>. \u201cThese guys have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Earlier this year, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple\u2019s wearables infringed on Masimo\u2019s patents and later handed down a US import ban on the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2. The ban went into effect on December 26th, 2023<\/a>, but Apple swiftly filed an appeal<\/a> and won a court order to temporarily pause the ban<\/a>. While Apple can resume selling both devices<\/a>, it will need to wait until US Customs and Border Protection determines the changes Apple made to the watches are significant enough to avoid a patent dispute. That decision is set for January 12th.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n