Uncertainty looms over Apple’s two new watches. After being banned once in the US, the
Apple Watch Series 9
and
Watch Ultra 2
are currently on sale at the mercy of an Appeals Court, which granted a temporary hold on the
import ban
put by the
US ITC
. But, the appeals period is ending, and Apple needs to find a permanent fix, which could be removing the
blood oxygen feature
that has been the root cause of all this, on the new units of these watches sold in the US.
Though Apple has not commented so far on the matter,
Masimo
, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, has sent a letter to the appeals court judge, noting that Apple can avoid the ban by removing the blood oxygen app on the Apple Watch models sold in the US. going from now on.
The
US Customs and Border Protection
, as per Bloomberg, has also approved Apple’s request for a redesign. The agency resolved that the redesign, in which Apple is removing the blood oxygen feature, is not included in the import ban imposed by the US
International Trade Commission
. Thus, with the redesign in effect, Apple could continue selling its watch in the US.
In October, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled out that Apple's watch models infringed patents held by Masimo related to blood-oxygen measurement technology. Consequently, just before Christmas, Apple was forced to stop selling smartwatches, as it waited for a veto on the order from the US President. However, that did not come, and Apple went to an appeals court for an interim stay allowing the company to sell the watches temporarily.
Apple developed a software workaround to bypass the dispute and presented it last week to the customs agency that enforces import bans. According to Masimo, the watches do not contain the technology at issue, the pulse oximetry.
A federal appeals court is expected to hear Apple's motion this week to continue the stay on the ban of its products, which would allow it to sell unmodified versions of Apple watches.
However, if not ruled in its favour, then Apple might have to sell the modified Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2, with possibly no pulse oximetry feature. These modified units have been already shipped to the retail stores ahead of the hearing. But, the problem does not end here, as the customs agency decision could be overturned if the ITC does not agree with it.
English (US) ·