According to recent media reports, Apple was accused of stealing trade secrets by an American technology company, Masimo. The company also accused the Cupertino-based company of improperly using health monitoring patents on its Watch.
Masimo and it’s subsidiary of files a lawsuit against Apple
Cercacor, a subsidiary of Masimo also filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that the Cupertino company obtains confidential information on the grounds of establishing a working relationship and hired Masimo employees. Masimo, which develops signal processing technology for medical monitoring equipment, claims in a lawsuit that Apple infringes 10 of its patents.
Masimo and Cercacor said that their non-intrusive detection technology is key to Apple’s resolution of Apple Watch performance issues. These methods include the use of light transmitters and detectors to measure blood oxygen levels and heart rate.
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According to the indictment at the federal court in Santa Ana, California, the American company contacted Masimo in 2013 and asked for potential cooperation with it. Apple says it wants to “learn more about Masimo’s technology and integrate it into Apple’s products.”
After Masimo thought it had a fruitful meeting with the iOS maker, it started poaching its employees. This includes the Chief Medical Officer of Masimo and Chief Technology Officer of Cercacor. The two companies said that Apple obtained confidential information from them.
The companies said in the complaint: “Given that Apple appears to be seeking information and expertise from Masimo and Cercacor in a targeted manner, Masimo and Cercacor have warned Apple to respect their rights.”
It is reported that four patents have been awarded to the former CTO of Cercacor. Masimo and Cercacor are also demonstrating that their engineers have been involved. The two companies said that the technology executive learned the ideas at the company, not through research. This would allow Masimo and Cercacor to own or at least jointly own the four patents currently assigned to Apple. The two companies also expect the lawsuits to prevent the American manufacturing giant from further using its patents
