The Cupertino tech giant Apple is accused of stealing trade secrets and using Masimo Corporation's inventions associated with health monitoring in Apple watch, according to a new report. Masimo develops signal processing technology for health care monitor, along with its spinoff, the Cercacor Lab Inc., filed a lawsuit that the Cupertino company obtained secret information in the pretense of a working relationship and hired the company's key employees. The business segment that includes Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Beats headphones, is one of the company's fastest-growing categories and generated over $24 billion in sales in the fiscal year that concluded in September.
Masimo and Cercacor stated that their technology that uses light for non-invasive monitoring was crucial to Apple solving performance issues with Apple Watch. Both companies accused Apple of infringing 10 patents, and one of these includes measures to gauge the levels of oxygen in the blood and heart rate using light emitters and detectors, reports Bloomberg. The cases seek orders that would prevent Apple using their patented inventions in Apple Watch 4 and Apple Watch 5 as well as the return of confidential information, and unspecified damages.
In 2013, Apple reached out to Masimo for a possible collaboration, states the complaint filed in federal court in Santa Ana, California. The Cupertino company said it wanted to understand more the technology of Masimo to integrate that into Apple's products, possibly, Masimo explained. Following what Masimo though were productive meetings, Apple hired the chief medical officer of Masimo, O'Reilly, who, according to Masimo, was privy to extremely sensitive information.
Apple hired Marcelo Lamego a year later, who was at that time the chief technology officer of Ceracor and formerly a scientist at Masimo. Like O'Reilly, Lamego has unfettered access to confidential information. "Given what appeared to be a targeted effort to obtain information and expertise from Masimo and Cercacor, Masimo and Cercacor warned Apple about respecting their rights," the companies stated in the complaint.
This is not the first time that Apple faced allegations of getting information from companies that thought they were collaborating with the Cupertino tech giant. In Oct. 2019, Apple was accused of stealing patented tech from an email developer and eventually removing the man's messaging service from the Apple App Store so it would not become its rival. Apple was also accused of integrating another person's patented invention into Apple Watch without paying.
In Dec. 2019, a cardiologist from New York filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the Cupertino company owes him royalties on the Apple Watch feature that offers notifications of irregular heartbeats.
