Apple denied request to pause Apple Watch sales ban amid patent dispute
The Apple Watch ban is going ahead short of a last-minute presidential veto.
Following the patent dispute over the blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, the International Trade Commission (ITC) sided with medical technology company Masimo, and ordered to halt all sales of said wearables in the US — conveniently just in time for the holidays. Apple has since filed a motion to pause this ban until its appeal is done, but earlier today, the ITC denied this request, meaning the Apple Watch ban is going ahead, unless the President decides to veto.
"A Presidential Review Period is in progress regarding an order from the US International Trade Commission on a technical intellectual property dispute pertaining to Apple Watch devices containing the Blood Oxygen feature," Apple told Engadget in an earlier statement. "While the review period will not end until December 25, Apple is preemptively taking steps to comply should the ruling stand."
The Apple Watch models affected will stop being sold on Apple.com on December 21, then on December 24 at Apple's retail stores, and then until stocks run out for third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy — which could be pretty fast given the import ban on December 26. Other models like the Apple Watch SE that don't contain a blood oxygen sensor will continue to be sold.
Masimo filed its lawsuit against Apple in 2021 over alleged violations of patents related to light-based blood-oxygen monitoring. The case originally targeted the Apple Watch Series 6, but despite the sales ban, you can continue to use the blood oxygen feature on that and other previously purchased Apple Watch models. In retaliation, Apple filed two patent infringement suits against Masimo in October 2022, claiming that the latter's own smartwatch copied Apple Watch features.
