The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Friday voted to conduct a new proceeding to decide whether to prohibit imports of revised Apple Watches, as part of a patent dispute with medical monitoring technology company Masimo.
In an order, the ITC said that it would examine whether Apple Watches, which were redesigned to avoid an earlier importation ban imposed by the commission, continue to infringe Masimo patents on blood-oxygen measurement technology.
Meanwhile, the commission had a deadline of six months to complete the investigation. Apple claimed that the case was a frivolous effort to prevent the use of its smartwatch’s blood oxygen feature and that Masimo had duplicated its watch design to launch the complaint.
The case belongs to a controversial multi-front patent battle between Apple and Masimo, an Irvine, California-based medical monitoring technology developer that has claimed the tech enterprise hires away its staff to steal its pulse-oximetry innovations.
The commission prohibited the imports of Apple’s Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches, determining that the patents of Masimo had been violated.
In order to evade the ban, Apple dropped blood-oxygen reading technology in its watches, but shortly later introduced a revised version of the technology in August with American Customs and Border Protection approval.
Masimo has sued Customs over the approval, and Apple is challenging the ban separately with a federal appeals court.
Masimo has also filed a petition against Apple in the federal court in California, alleging patent violation and the theft of trade secrets.
A judge of Santa Ana stated on Friday that Apple owes $634 million in damages for infringing a Masimo patent.
A California judge issued a declaration of a mistrial in 2023, in a trade-secret lawsuit by Masimo against Apple after a jury could not unanimously decide.
Apple secured a small $250 verdict against Masimo in Delaware in a countersuit, claiming that Masimo’s smartwatches would infringe two Apple design patents last year.
