Why is the Apple Watch being banned?
An appeals court has suspended the ban on Apple Watch imports that had just been put into place the day before by the US International Trade Commission.
An appeals court has suspended the ban put into place by the US International Trade Commission on the marketing of the Ultra 2 and Series 9 Apple Watch models.
The tech giant had appealed the ITC’s ruling that some Apple Watch models’ blood oxygen monitors infringed on patents owned by the biotech firm Masimo.
The ITC is likely to draft a response to the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by Jan. 10.
According to tech news website 9to5Mac, Apple has submitted a software update that it believes will resolve the issue, although the government is still expected to decide if the update will be sufficient to settle the matter.
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What is the Apple Watch patent scandal about?
To understand the whole story we must know the position of the complainants. On one hand is the company Masimo, which accuses Apple of hiring the engineers responsible for its blood oxygen measurement sensor, to be able to integrate it into its Apple Watch.
Masimo is a company in the medical sector that is dedicated to developing technological solutions related to monitoring systems. Upon seeing the patents published by Apple, they decided to file a complaint given the similarities with their own systems.
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A Masimo representative had stated that the ITC ruling was “a victory for the integrity of the United States patent system, and ultimately for American consumers.”
The ban does not affect the Apple Watch SE or the rest of the models which do not have this sensor.
Analysts believe that Apple’s short-term objective was for the ban to be lifted so that the remaining affected units can put back into stores. The company had already announced its plans to stop selling Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 on its website and its physical locations. Now that the ban has temporarily been lifted, sales of the products can resume.