Recent Court Decision a Win for Masimo Patents

This month’s legal victory against Philips marks Masimo as “the true innovator,” according to the company’s lead trial counsel, but the case is far from finished.

Marie Thibault

May 28, 2015

2 Min Read
Recent Court Decision a Win for Masimo Patents

Marie Thibault

Earlier this month, a Delaware federal court maintained an October 2014 jury verdict that awarded Masimo Corp. $467 million against Philips Electronics North America Corp. and Philips Medizin-Systeme Boblingen GmbH. While the court’s decision is a clear win for Masimo, there are still multiple phases left in the case.

Last year’s $467 million jury verdict was the largest intellectual property verdict in 2014, according to Law360. After the October verdict was handed down, Philips asked for a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law on invalidity challenges, as well as motions for a new trial and a reduction of the monetary award. In his decision, U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark denied these motions and challenges. 

The May 18 decision was a victory for Masimo’s pulse oximetry technology. Joe Kiani, founder and CEO of Masimo, said in a press release, “This ruling reaffirms Masimo’s innovative creation of measure-through-motion pulse oximetry that has dramatically improved patient care worldwide.” 

Joseph Re, a partner at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP and lead trial counsel for Masimo, wrote in an e-mail to MD+DI, “As the opinion explains, the evidence was overwhelmingly in Masimo’s favor and Philips even stopped contesting infringement. The jury correctly saw Masimo as true innovators.”

But Re acknowledged that the Masimo–Philips case is likely to continue for a long time, possibly years. “The case has a long way to go. The case is not even final for an appeal. There are numerous other claims and defenses that are still outstanding,” Re wrote.

Indeed, Steve Klink, senior press officer and director of communications for Philips Group Communications, wrote in an e-mail to MD+DI that the May 18 court decisions “are part of the first phase of this ongoing and extensive litigation between Philips and Masimo . . . Philips will continue to pursue all avenues of appeal of this verdict at both the District and Appellate court levels. The May 18 ruling does not alter our confidence that we will ultimately prevail in establishing that Philips has not infringed any valid Masimo patent in this suit.”

Klink also noted that though Philips’s motions were denied, “the Court, however, also denied Masimo’s motion to dismiss our charges of patent misuse and violation of the antitrust laws by Masimo.”

Re noted there are still seven Masimo patents remaining to go to trial. Most of these patents pertain to a signal processing apparatus related to blood oximetry measurements.

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Marie Thibault is the associate editor at MD+DI. Reach her at [email protected] and on Twitter @medtechmarie

[Image courtesy of DIGITALART/FREEDIGITALPHOTOS.NET]

About the Author

Marie Thibault

Marie Thibault is the managing editor for Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry and Qmed. Reach her at [email protected] and on Twitter @MedTechMarie.

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