US Customs and Border Protection unlawfully let Apple Inc. reactivate a blood-oxygen tracking feature on Apple Watches that infringes patents for the technology, Masimo Corp. said in a federal lawsuit.<\/p>\n
CBP exceeded its authority in an Aug. 1 internal advice ruling that overturned its own January decision without notice or input from Masimo, the medical-device maker said in a complaint<\/a> filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Masimo brought claims under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment\u2019s due process clause.<\/p>\n Apple announced<\/a> Aug. 14 that software updates would restore the blood-oxygen feature for US Apple Watch owners by shifting calculations to paired iPhones rather than the watch itself. Masimo said that was the first time it learned CBP had quietly reversed course two weeks earlier in an ex parte ruling, despite the agency\u2019s policy that such decisions normally require both sides to be heard. The feature has been banned on US Apple Watches since the US International Trade Commission in October 2023<\/a> found it infringes claims in two Masimo patents.<\/p>\n Masimo\u2019s complaint notes the timing of Apple investment pledges around CBP\u2019s Aug. 1 ruling. Following more than $500 billion revealed earlier this year, Apple announced another $100 billion <\/a>ahead of an Aug. 6 Oval Office event with President Donald Trump. At that event, Cook highlighted $2.5 billion for Corning glass production and presented the president with a gold-plated plaque<\/a>\u2014gestures Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said could \u201csoften the White House\u2019s ire\u201d over Apple\u2019s reliance on India for iPhone assembly.<\/p>\n Masimo on Wednesday also asked the court<\/a> for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block enforcement of CBP\u2019s Aug. 1 ruling. The company wants to restore the January decision, reached after a proceeding in which both Apple and Masimo participated, that allowed imports only if the oxygen-tracking function was disabled.<\/p>\n \u201cEach passing day that this unlawful ruling remains in effect irreparably deprives Masimo of its right to be free from unfair trade practices and to preserve its competitive standing in the U.S. marketplace,\u201d Masimo said in its supporting brief.<\/p>\n Masimo said the reversal \u201ceffectively nullified\u201d an October 2023 limited exclusion order from the ITC, which found Apple Watches infringe US Patent Nos. 10,912,502<\/a> and 10,945,648<\/a> covering non-invasive pulse oximetry. Apple\u2019s appeal<\/a> of the ban is pending at the Federal Circuit.<\/p>\n The company called CBP\u2019s ex parte decision \u201can extraordinary departure\u201d from its mandate and a violation of its own policy requiring adversarial proceedings absent \u201cexceptional circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n CBP didn\u2019t immediately provide comment on the allegations.<\/p>\n Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP represents Masimo.<\/p>\n