At least temporarily
Apple is allowed to sell watches in the USA again
December 28, 2023, 6:32 a.m
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A medical technology company is accusing Apple of patent infringement, specifically regarding the technology for measuring the oxygen content in the blood in the new Apple Watches. The company has stopped selling the models in question in the USA for a few days now. Now they’re coming back – at least for now.
In the patent dispute between Apple and a medical technology company, a US court has temporarily suspended a ban on the import and sale of the latest Apple Watch models in the USA. The responsible federal appeals court decided to suspend the ban on the import and sale of the watches until the appeal process has been completed. An Apple spokesperson said the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be available again in Apple Stores in the US and on the Apple website starting Thursday.
The import and sales ban came into force on Tuesday. The government of US President Joe Biden had previously decided not to veto a decision by the US Foreign Trade Commission (ITC) in October. Apple stopped sales of the Apple Watch models from the Series 9 and Ultra 2 series last week as a precautionary measure due to the patent dispute. But this only applied via the company’s own sales platforms. The corresponding models were still available at other retailers.
The ITC justified its ban on the grounds that Apple had infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corporation and Cercacor Laboratories. Masimo had appealed to the ITC in 2021, accusing Apple of copying, in particular, a technology for measuring oxygen levels in the blood using light beams, on which the company has a patent.
Apple itself denies the allegations and filed an appeal in a US federal court on Tuesday. This court has now provisionally ruled in favor of Apple. At the end of 2022, Apple itself filed two complaints against Masimo with the ITC – accusing it of having copied Apple’s smartwatch technology.