Masimo, a medical company that creates pulse oximetry devices, has filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the tech giant stole trade secrets and used its technology in the Apple Watch.
Bloomberg says that Masimo claims secret information was stolen after Apple pretended to seek a working relationship with the company, as well as by hiring key employees. Masimo says that the Apple Watch infringes on 10 of its patents.
The medical company alleges that Apple utilized Masimo tech when it developed the light-based heart rate sensor featured in the Apple Watch, along with other technology. The company claims that Apple contacted it back in 2013 regarding meeting for a potential collaboration.
Masimo alleges that Apple said it wanted to “understand more” about its products and aimed to possibly integrate the company’s technology in its devices. Apple then began hiring key employees from Masimo after these meetings.
Masimo and its parent company Cercacor want to block further use of the patents they believe have been infringed, along with requesting unspecified damages.
It’s unlikely that this lawsuit will result in Apple Watch sales being halted. Instead, both companies will likely come to some sort of settlement out of court.
Apple brought the Apple Watch Series 4’s ECG heart-rate monitoring app to Canada in July, 2019.
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