Here’s how the Apple Watch blood oxygen feature could return after Masimo shakeup

One of the biggest barriers to upgrading to a new Apple Watch this year is that, if you’re in the US and currently own a model with blood oxygen measurement, you wouldn’t get that feature in your new model.

That’s due to the patent dispute between Apple and Masimo, but now that the health tech company’s CEO has resigned, there could be a potential way to resolve the matter …

A quick recap

Back in 2013, Apple reportedly contacted Masimo to discuss a potential collaboration between the two companies. Instead, claims Masimo, Apple used the meetings to identify staff it wanted to poach. Masimo later called the meetings a “targeted effort to obtain information and expertise.”

Apple did indeed hire a number of Masimo staff, including the company’s chief medical officer, ahead of the launch of the Apple Watch.

Masimo CEO Joe Kiano later expressed concern that Apple may have been trying to steal the company’s blood oxygen sensor technology. The company describes itself as “the inventors of modern pulse oximeters,” and its tech is used in many hospitals.

A complaint to the International Trade Commission resulted in a compromise, in which Apple was ordered to remove the feature from new Watches sold in the US from January 18 of this year. It was not required to disable the feature in Watches already sold, but could not include it in any new ones.

The lawsuit resulted in five of Masimo’s claims being rejected, and a jury being unable to reach agreement on the rest. That will see a new trial held, at a date yet to be set.

The dispute has so far appeared deadlocked

I argued that, whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, the current stalemate is hurting both Apple and its customers. I suggested that Apple should licence first, argue later.

I’m not calling on it to admit wrong-doing, merely to take a pragmatic decision to keep the tech available until the matter is finally resolved. If Apple wins, then it can file a lawsuit for the return of the patent royalties.

So far, both Apple and Masimo have been taking a hard line. Apple has refused to licence the tech, and Masimo’s previous CEO, Joe Kiani, had claimed he wouldn’t agree to do so anyway.

But the CEO’s resignation creates an opportunity

However, Kiana has now resigned from the company, and been replaced by Michelle Brennan.

While neither Masimo nor Brennan have revealed the reason for this, it doesn’t seem impossible that it’s related to Kiani’s handling of the dispute. A new leader creates an opportunity for a new attitude to the matter.

That potentially solves one half of the problem – Masimo’s refusal to sell a licence – but what about Apple’s equally adamant refusal to buy one?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who shares my view that this should have been resolved months ago, believes that a compromise could be reached which would benefit both companies without any money changing hands.

I don’t believe Apple will want to reach a licensing agreement, but I could imagine a deal — financial or not — that lets the two sides drop all litigation […] Apple could agree to work with Masimo on integrating that company’s popular hospital equipment with the Health app.

In that way, Apple Watch owners would get not just one benefit, but two. They’d get back the blood oxygen measurement, but also have any hospital tests involving Masimo kit integrated into their Apple Health data. That would give hospitals a reason to upgrade to new Masimo kit, generating extra sales for the company.

How realistic this prospect might be isn’t clear, but it would at least offer both companies a face-saving end to the dispute.

Photo by Klim Musalimov on Unsplash