Intellectual Property Analysis of Masimo Inc.’s U.S. Patent Portfolio

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Masimo, Inc. is a medical technology company specializing in the development and manufacture of noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. Licensing its technology to companies such as GE Medical, Medtronic, Philips, OSI Systems, and China’s Mindray Medical, Masimo has placed itself at the forefront of the market for pulse oximetry technology solutions.

Success in any technology area inevitably marks a company as a potential threat to others, and Masimo has aggressively defended its territory out of the gate. On February 3, 2009, Masimo initiated a lawsuit against Philips Electronics, alleging that some of Philips’ products, namely their FAST pulse oximetry technology and certain Philips patient monitors, infringed on patents held by Masimo.

Masimo has laid their cards on the table regarding their intentions to use their intellectual property portfolio as a vehicle to uphold their strong position in the market. The question stands: does Masimo have the strength in their current patent portfolio to adequately support their allegations of patent infringement without significant risk of counter-claim or value erosion? Using the M•CAM DOORS™ software platform, the innovation space surrounding the asserted patents was examined in order to understand their strength and defensibility in the face of prior and concurrent art innovations.

This report focuses on entities of interest with patents and innovations that predate or coexist with the holdings of Masimo, as well as public-domain alternatives.