Apple received some bad news today. The company has been ordered to pay an additional $184 million in interest on top of a jury’s previous $634 million verdict in a patent infringement case with Masimo.
The initial verdict came out in November of last year, when a jury found that Apple infringed upon Masimo’s patents related to the use of heart-rate monitoring features in its Apple Watches. Masimo was then awarded $634 million in damages.
Now, judge James Selna rejected Apple’s argument that adding interest would constitute a windfall for Masimo, citing US Supreme Court guidance that “interest from the time that the royalty payments would have been received merely serves to make the patent owner whole”.
At the same time, the judge also declined Masimo’s request for a 7% interest rate, which would have resulted in a $243 million interest payment from Apple. Instead, the court opted to use Masimo’s own borrowing rate, compounded annually from when the infringement began.
So what was a $634 million bill for Apple has now become an $818 million bill instead. This is still pennies for Apple, but it’s a significant win for Masimo.
