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The heart rate sensor patents were ruled unpatentable:

https://www.tomsguide.com/wellness/smartwatches/apple-watch-...

> This week, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the previous verdict of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that concluded all three of AliveCor’s patents were unpatentable. This is generally the outcome when courts conclude that patents are either obvious or too generic to enforce.

The case over the oximeter functionality is still ongoing, but with luck it'll go the same way.




It looked like it was not just the oximeter but the arrangement of the sensors and the fact that they fist approached Masimo with a licensing deal but then canceled and hired engineers from Masimo instead....

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34360292


Interesting. So, potentially, using a different source might have helped?


That story is about heart rate sensors. The Masimo case is about oximetry, and AFAIK Apple is still blocked from selling watches with this feature.


Yes, it looks like Apple "won" their reciprocal patent cases against Masimo but basically got $250 for it, and no injunction. The case against Apple is still blocking them from selling watches with oximetry.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/apple-wins-masimo-lawsuit-its-...


I think the article is referencing two different cases, and the ones invalidated don't seem related to oximetry, I'm not sure what happened with the oximetry one though.




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