Apple-Masimo Trade Secrets Fight Ends With No Jury Verdict

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Apple Inc. and Masimo Corp. failed to persuade a jury to reach a unanimous verdict in a trial where the medical-devices company claimed a blood-oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch was developed using misappropriated trade secrets.

Masimo sought as much as $1.85 billion, claiming that was the amount of illegal profit Apple earned from using its technology. But jurors in federal court in Santa Ana, California, told the judge Monday they were unable to reach a consensus, with six out of seven panelists voting to clear the iPhone maker of wrongdoing.

“We're not going to be able to come to a joint conclusion,” the all-female panel wrote in its final note to the judge. Earlier, the jury said six of its members voted for Apple and one for Masimo, and she refused to change her mind. US District Judge James Selna declared a mistrial late Monday afternoon.

It's unusual for jurors to report on a vote in their closed-door deliberations as judges routinely warn them against doing so.

Masimo Corp. and Cercacor Laboratories Inc., a Masimo spinoff that owns certain licensing rights to many Masimo patents, sued Apple claiming it misappropriated trade secrets related to technology that uses light sensors to measure the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream for use in its Apple Watch.

Masimo initially sought as much as $3.1 billion, claiming that was the amount Apple improperly benefited from its technology. The judge rejected several of Masimo's claims before the jury began deliberations, reducing the potential maximum payout Apple faced to $1.85 billion.

Apple poached Masimo and Cercacor employees to learn about its technology after Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook nixed an internal proposal to buy the company, Masimo's lawyer, Joseph Re, told the