2023-05-02 15:45:55
From 2020, to Apple faces a legal fight once morest the Fields — a medical technology company that designs non-invasive monitoring methods — which accuses it of stealing trade secrets to develop the Apple Watch.
After ups and downs in this process, which even included a request to ban the import of the Apple Watch in the United States, the case ended yesterday with the mistrial — following jurors failed to reach a unanimous vote, according to information from Bloomberg.
A previous report by the vehicle, it is worth noting, pointed out that six of the seven jurors had decided in favor of Apple, but a unanimous vote was required. In a statement, Apple thanked the jury “for their careful consideration,” further stating the following:
We deeply respect intellectual property and innovation and do not take or use confidential information from other companies. We are pleased that the court correctly rejected half of the trade secret violation claims, and we will now ask the court to dismiss the remaining claims.
The latest development in the case isn’t exactly positive for Masimo, but it’s not the end either. In that sense, it is likely that the trial will be suspended until the company decides how to proceed with the accusation, as said by a representative:
While we are disappointed that the jury was unable to reach a verdict, we intend to retry the case and continue to pursue legal remedies once morest Apple. As we begin this process, the US International Trade Commission is expected to decide in the coming months whether to ban the import of certain Apple Watch models, following a ruling last year by an administrative law judge that Apple infringed on one of Apple’s patents. Masimo.
Initially, Masimo wanted payment of US$3.1 billion in compensation, claiming that was the amount that Apple improperly benefited from its technology. The judge, however, rejected several of the company’s claims before the jury began deliberations, reducing the possible maximum payout to $1.8 billion.
Former Masimo executives at Apple
On a related note, details obtained from internal documents and emails by journalist Meghann Cuniff revealed that Apple was looking to work with Masimo and its affiliate Cercacor Laboratories, thanks to their expertise in developing health monitoring technology — an initiative called internally “Project Everest”.
In that same period, Michael O’Reilly joined Apple as the newly appointed Chief Medical Officer (chief medical officer, or CMO), a role he previously held at Masimo. With that, some hiring concerns were raised while Apple was talking to Masimo, which got worse when Apple hired Ceracor’s technical director, Marcelo Lamegofor the Apple Watch team.
Lamego told the CEOChief executive officeror executive director.”>1 da Apple, Tim Cookwhich might add significant value to the Apple Watch project without conflicting with the technology it developed with Masimo — so much so that this was one of the arguments used in favor of Apple.
He was at Apple for only 6 months, but filed 12 patent applications in that period — 5 of which are involved in the trial. Lamego then left the company when Masimo sent “a threatening letter to Tim Cook”, with the company stating that what he shared with Apple during that time was instrumental in the development of the Apple Watch.
As pointed out by AppleInsider, the Cupertino giant continued to attest that these people were hired for “their expertise in their field”, not the corporate details they had access to in previous companies. The fact is, however, that distrust of these hires remains to this day.
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