US Jury Orders Apple to Pay Masimo US$634 Million in Smartwatch Patent Case

A federal jury in California has ruled that Apple must pay US$634 million to medical-monitoring firm Masimo, finding that certain features of the Apple Watch—including workout mode and heart-rate notifications—violated Masimo’s patent covering blood-oxygen monitoring technology.

Masimo described the verdict as a major victory in its fight to protect its intellectual property, emphasising years of litigation with Apple over wearable health-track­ing technology. Apple, however, has rejected the ruling and said it will appeal, arguing that the patent in question expired in 2022 and relates to older monitoring technology.

This case forms part of a broader, intense legal battle between the two companies: Masimo previously secured a U.S. import ban on certain Apple Watch models over the same patent, and Apple later reintroduced the blood-oxygen feature after redesigning the watches in line with regulatory demands.

Analysis / Impact:
This verdict represents a high-stakes moment in the wearables industry. For Apple, a payout of this magnitude underscores the cost of infringing medical-device patents and could influence how it develops future health-monitoring features. It also adds legal risk and financial burden to one of Apple’s most strategic product lines.

For Masimo, the win validates its claims and reinforces its position as a serious innovator rather than a peripheral competitor. The ruling may strengthen its leverage in ongoing disputes, including import-restriction matters and other patent battles.

More broadly, the case sends a strong signal about the intersection of consumer electronics and medical technology: the boundaries are blurring, and regulatory, legal, and innovation risks are all increasing. For emerging markets such as Nigeria, this could mean that health-tech startups and device makers must pay very careful attention not just to engineering and user experience, but also to patent strategy and compliance.