Sound United has a new name in Australia ‘Masimo Consumer’. The US medical Company, who acquired the Sound United business last year, have stamped their own branding on the local audio company.
Brands set to be sold by Masimo Consumer in Australia include Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Definitive Technology and Polk. They are also set to launch a Masimo watch.
Currently, Masimo senior management are preoccupied in a major US trial after they took action against Apple, accusing them of stealing Masimo patents.
Masimo and co-plaintiff Cercacor Laboratories Inc., a Masimo spinoff that owns certain licensing rights to several Masimo patents, allege Apple stole trade secrets, including some related to technology that uses light sensors to measure the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream.
The judger in the case has told the jury to “leave their Apple Watches at home” as a key part of the case centres on Masimo accusing Apple of using confidential information from two former executives it hired to develop features that are now built into Apple watches.
The information, according to Masimo, was then used to design, build, and sell certain Apple Watch models that delivered medical benefits to users.
Up to $1 billion could be at stake in the trade secrets dispute, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tamlin Bason.
The 10-day jury trial is currently under way in the US District Court for the Central District of California, with the potential for live testimony from Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, who according to sources has fought to not have to give evidence in the case.
Masimo and Cercacor also claim that Apple, after obtaining stolen information, then filed their own patents on inventions which Masimo and Cercacor claim they owned.
Apple denies all of Masimo’s and Cercacor’s claims.
Apple contends that the information that Masimo and Cercacor claim are trade secrets are not actually trade secrets. Apple also contends it did not misappropriate Plaintiffs’ alleged trade secrets through Masimo’s or Cercacor’s former employees or through any other means.
Apple also contends that Masimo and Cercacor employees should not be added as co-inventors to the disputed patents and neither Masimo nor Cercacor is a joint owner of those patents.
Apple also asserts the defence that Masimo and Cercacor did not file this lawsuit within the time permitted by law. Masimo and Cercacor contend that they filed the lawsuit within the time permitted by law.
This trial is likely to span several days to perhaps a week or more before the jury is finally handed the case for deliberation.
