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In a striking escalation of its long-running patent battle with Apple, medical technology company Masimo has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) over its decision to permit the import of Apple Watches equipped with blood-oxygen monitoring features. The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, claims that Customs improperly reversed a prior ban and gave the green light to Apple’s redesigned watches—enabling the restoration of pulse oximetry while cutting Masimo out of the decision entirely.
Masimo contends that CBP’s controversial ruling “created loopholes” that rendered previous exclusion orders by the International Trade Commission (ITC) ineffective. The ITC had earlier prohibited imports of certain Apple watches after finding that their blood oxygen technology infringed Masimo’s patents. Still, Apple sidestepped the ban by shifting oxygen measurement calculations from the watch to the user’s iPhone. Masimo argues this workaround still violates its intellectual property, and that Customs’ abrupt reversal—made without notifying Masimo or giving it a chance to be heard—deprives the company of due process and fair competition.
The lawsuit appears to be “unique” in targeting a federal enforcement agency rather than the tech giant directly. It could set a new precedent for how patent exclusion orders are interpreted and enforced. Masimo has separately sued Apple in federal courts for patent infringement and trade secret theft. The company is now seeking a court order to block Customs’ ruling and stop Apple from selling watches with blood-oxygen features until a full hearing is held.
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