Apple Inc. has won a $250 damages award from a federal jury in Delaware on Friday, as the jury found that Masimo Corp.’s original designs for smartwatches infringed Apple Watch design patents. The long-standing dispute over smartwatch patents has been ongoing between the two companies, with Apple worth more than $3.5 trillion and Masimo valued at $7.5 billion. The decision was a mixed verdict, and it marks the latest chapter of the clash over smartwatch patents. The dispute led to an import ban of certain Apple Watch models last year, and the appeal of which is pending at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Apple’s $250 damages demand was the minimum it could ask for while seeking a jury trial instead of a bench trial over Masimo’s alleged infringement of the Apple Watch’s aesthetic and functionality. Although Apple won damages from the jury, the decision all but removed its chance to block Masimo’s current products.
“We’re not here for the money,” Apple attorney John Desmarais of Desmarais LLP told jurors during his closing argument Friday. “We want them to stop copying our design” and features. He lambasted Masimo for focusing on its innovations in pulse oximetry, the blood-oxygen measurement feature that the company is best known for developing.
The original design for Masimo’s W1, Freedom, and health module infringed US Patent No. D883,279, according to a verdict issued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The jury rejected Masimo’s arguments for invalidating the ‘279 patent.
Cash compensation wasn’t a major concern for Apple, as its win could’ve led to a trial on a potential injunction. However, jurors found that “a discontinued module and charger”—not Masimo’s current products—”infringed two Apple design patents,” according to a Masimo spokesperson. This distinction undermines Apple’s claim of irreparable harm, since the infringement involves outdated items rather than products currently on the market.
Apple’s spokesperson said that “teams at Apple worked for years to develop Apple Watch,” while “Masimo took shortcuts, launching a device that copies Apple Watch and infringes our intellectual property.”
During the trial, Masimo’s counsel handed Apple’s counsel $900 in cash, attempting to “moot” Apple’s damages claim and avoid a jury trial. Apple returned the cash, and the court ruled that the case must proceed to a jury trial.
Read more: