The ban on the sale of Apple’s smartwatches, including the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9, which feature blood oxygen level measurement, will persist in the U.S., starting tomorrow.
The U.S. Federal Appeals Court has lifted the preliminary injunction that prevented the enforcement of the sales ban on certain Apple watches due to a patent dispute with health technology company Masimo. Consequently, the temporarily halted sales ban will resume tomorrow.
Sales Ban on Apple’s Smartwatches
The U.S. International Trade Commission, overseeing international trade disputes, concluded in October of last year that the blood oxygen level measurement feature of the Apple Watch violated Masimo’s pulse oximeter patents. The Commission’s decision was not vetoed by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who had until December 25, 2023, to exercise a veto.
With Biden’s administration choosing not to veto, the sale of Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Watch Series 9 was prohibited in the U.S. Apple appealed the decision to the Federal Appeals Court, seeking a stay on the ruling. Apple requested an evaluation by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection until January 12 to determine whether the redesigned versions of the watches still infringed upon Masimo’s patents.
Last week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection decided that the redesigned version of Apple’s watches did not include the technology covered by Masimo’s pulse oximeter patent, thus exempting it from the ban.
source: aa.com.tr / prepared by Melisa Beğiç