Apple (AAPL) can continue to import its Apple Watch into the U.S. after a federal judge denied a request to block them by Masimo (MASI) stemming from its lawsuit versus the U.S. Customs and Border Protection over blood-oxygen sensor patents, according to Bloomberg Law.
In a minute order issued on Tuesday, Judge Ana Reyes denied Masimo’s August motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, the report said.
The case revolves around the Series 9 and Ultra 2 versions of the Apple Watch. The Irvine, California-based Masimo, which develops non-invasive health monitoring technologies, alleged that these Apple Watches “infringed Masimo’s patents related to light-based pulse oximetry technology.”
The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a Limited Exclusion Order back in October 2023 to protect Masimo’s patented technology. In response, Apple introduced a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update.
“Following this update, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch will be measured and calculated on the paired iPhone, and results can be viewed in the Respiratory section of the Health app,” Apple said in August. “This update was enabled by a recent U.S. Customs ruling.”
However, Masimo does not agree that the iPhone and Apple Watch pairing feature to read blood oxygen levels goes far enough to alleviate the patent issues.
“In an August 2025 ruling that was published just yesterday, CBP inexplicably reversed its January 2025 decision prohibiting the importation of the watch-plus-phone combination and did so through an ex parte processing, without providing Masimo any notice or opportunity to participate,” Masimo said in a court filing.
The U.S. International Trade Commission recently launched a new proceeding to further examine the dispute.