Apple Watch Patent Trial to Turn on Storytelling, Not Sensors

A California jury begins hearing arguments Tuesday in the years-long clash between Apple Inc. and Masimo Corp. over whether Apple Watch health-sensor features infringed a Masimo patent—a fight that partly turns on whether the device is wellness tech or medical equipment.

The trial in the US District Court for the Central District of California centers on an expired patent covering blood-oxygen and heart-rate monitoring technology. Jurors will decide whether Apple infringed Masimo’s US patent No. 10,433,776 and whether the patent is valid.

If Masimo prevails on both, jurors will consider damages, which the medical-devices maker says could reach $981 million for alleged infringement from January 2020 through the patent’s expiration in June 2022.

“The better story is often the more compelling one,” said Jeff Saltman, an intellectual-property trial lawyer at Cole Schotz PC. “It’s often the stronger fact witnesses that tell the story that will best connect with the jury.”

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