Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC in a statement shared on live television that Apple has no intention to license Masimo’s patents. While it seemed likely that was the case, the company hadn’t said as much publicly until now.

“We’re focused on appeal,” Cook’s statement said. “There’s lots of reasons to buy the watch even without the blood oxygen sensor.”

  • kirklennon@kbin.social
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    5 months ago

    No surprise here. Apple’s position, which I expect they’ll likely eventually prevail on, is that none of Masimo’s relevant patents are valid and they should have never been issued. Why pay money to license an invalid patent?

    • TeckFire@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Furthermore, licensing a patent can give credibility to said patent, making it more difficult to prove in court that it was ever invalid in the first place.

    • Nogami@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Yup, Apple doesn’t mess around. Masimo isn’t gonna see a cent from them. The sort of fail that usually means management changes.

    • FoxBJK@midwest.social
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      5 months ago

      It’s not invalid yet though. As of right now they’re in violation, and they went so far as to hire away Masimo engineers to make them work on a competing product. If you want the tech that badly why NOT license it?

      • kirklennon@kbin.social
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        5 months ago

        If you want the tech that badly why NOT license it?

        Because they don’t think the patent is actually valid. Getting it officially invalidated is a process but if it really should have never been issued in the first place, then Apple is not truly infringing it and has no obligation to pay a cent to anybody else for it.

  • NrdyN8@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    “”There’s lots of reasons to buy the watch even without the blood oxygen sensor””.

    I’m sorry but that was the entire reason I was going to trade-in my series 4 for a newer one. So I guess my series 4 that barely last 20hrs will continue to live on my nightstand. I would wear a normal watch if my health wasn’t garbage or if I could ever feel my phone vibrate when it is in my pocket.

    • irish_link@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I actually don’t think you are too far off. About a week ago i read about Masimo unavailing their watch for $999. Not many people will buy a watch for that much even with a blood ox system in it.

      I think Apple will wait a year or two for them to “fail” by not succeeding like the investors want and then offer to purchase the company. A super low ball price and then just keep moving on with their plans.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Their anticompetitive behavior lately (well always, but especially lately) feels so whiny and infantile.

      They’re kicking and screaming about their closed ecosystem and stealing patented information.

  • DBT@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Does anyone know if the blood oxygen sensor in ultra watch 2 is used for measuring VO2 max?

    I got the ultra 2 because I’m training for ultramarathons and I kind of like to keep track of this as I progress/age.

      • DBT@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Right, but just like this watch has better GPS than the others, I was curious if the additional hardware could improve VO2 max readings compared to previous watches.