Apple Watch Trial Openings Hinge on Patient Monitoring Frequency

Apple Inc.‘s watches can be used to monitor patients, the tech giant’s counsel told a California jury Wednesday—but that doesn’t make them medical equipment.

Apple and medical tech company Masimo Corp. have been locked in a dispute over smartwatches for years. But opening statements Wednesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California added definition to the companies’ competing visions. Whether Apple’s watches are medical devices or consumer products that happen to have health features is a distinction legal scholars say will be key to the outcome of the case.

WilmerHale’s Joseph Mueller for Apple said ...