A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California recently ruled that Apple's Apple Watch smartwatch infringed on patents held by medical monitoring technology company Masimo Corporation for its activity mode and blood oxygen monitoring features. The court ordered Apple to pay Masimo $634 million (approximately 4.5 billion RMB) in damages.

This lawsuit is part of a long-running patent dispute between Apple and Masimo. Masimo previously accused Apple of poaching key technical personnel after collaboration talks in 2013 and stealing its technology for use in the Apple Watch. In 2023, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that multiple Apple Watch models posed patent infringement risks, forcing Apple to modify product features to avoid an import ban.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has decided to launch a new investigation to review whether Apple's redesigned blood oxygen monitoring feature still constitutes patent infringement. If the ITC finds infringement, certain Apple Watch models—including Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2—could again face import or sales bans in the U.S. market.

Apple responded by stating it does not accept the jury's verdict and plans to appeal the $634 million judgment while exploring options to address the potential ITC ban.