WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. trade tribunal

preliminarily ruled that Apple's ( AAPL ) current Apple Watches

do not infringe patents owned by Masimo ( MASI ), rejecting the

medical-monitoring company's bid for a renewed import ban on the

tech giant's smartwatches.

Apple ( AAPL ) altered its watches to circumvent an import ban that

the U.S. International Trade Commission issued in 2023. An ITC

judge agreed with Apple ( AAPL ) in a ruling made public on Thursday that

the redesigned watches do not violate Masimo's ( MASI ) patent rights in

blood-oxygen reading technology.

The full commission will now decide whether to affirm the

decision.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on

Thursday separately affirmed the tribunal's 2023 ruling that had

blocked Apple ( AAPL ) from importing Apple Watches that infringed

Masimo's ( MASI ) patents, although Apple ( AAPL ) has since resumed importing its

redesigned watches.

Apple ( AAPL ) said in a statement that it was pleased with the ITC's

decision and will evaluate "all avenues for further review" of

the Federal Circuit's ruling. "For six years, Masimo ( MASI ) has brought

dozens of false claims against Apple ( AAPL ), nearly all of which have

been rejected," Apple ( AAPL ) said.

A Masimo ( MASI ) spokesperson declined to comment.

The cases are part of a contentious, multi-front patent

fight between Apple ( AAPL ) and Masimo ( MASI ), an Irvine, California-based

medical monitoring technology company that has accused Apple ( AAPL ) of

hiring away its employees to steal its pulse-oximetry

innovations used to determine oxygen levels in the blood.

The ITC blocked imports of Apple's ( AAPL ) Series 9 and Ultra 2

smartwatches in December 2023 after finding that they infringed

Masimo's ( MASI ) patents. Apple ( AAPL ) removed blood-oxygen reading technology

from its watches to avoid the ban, but reintroduced an updated

version of the technology last August with approval from U.S.

Customs and Border Protection.

Masimo ( MASI ) has separately sued Customs over its approval of the

redesigned watches.

The updated watches display health data from the

blood-oxygen reader on associated Apple ( AAPL ) devices like the iPhone

and not the watch itself. Apple's ( AAPL ) original version displayed the

data on its watches as well.

Danaher ( DHR ) in February agreed to buy Masimo ( MASI ) in a $9.9

billion deal.

Masimo ( MASI ) has separately sued Apple ( AAPL ) in California federal court

for patent infringement and trade-secret theft, and won $634

million in a November patent trial. Apple ( AAPL ) has said it would

appeal the verdict.