The Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 could be banned again, as the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has not been completely convinced by Apple's argument that the wearables should remain on sale.
MacRumors recently uncovered a document written by ITC lawyers before the US Court of Appeals opposing the tech giant's efforts to extend the pause on the Apple Watch ban. Right now, the smartwatch developer is appealing the case. Lawyers argue that “Apple [is presenting] a weak and unconvincing case” that states that the brand seeks to “continue to infringe [on] asserted patents.
If you're not too familiar with the story, the ITC ruled in October that Apple had been infringing patents held by healthcare technology company Masimo. The patents are for blood oxygen monitoring sensors in select Apple Watch models. As a result, the wearables could not be sold. In fact, the tech giant removed the products from the shelves of physical stores and its online store for a few days at the end of December. However, Apple successfully appealed the court's decision and managed to suspend the ban.
Apple's last chance
It's worth noting that Masimo extended an olive branch a few weeks ago. Masimo CEO Joe Kiani told Bloomberg that he is willing to talk to Apple, reach a deal with them and maybe even “work with them.” [the company] to improve your product.” It is unknown how much money Kiani was asking for in the agreement.
Despite Masimo's best efforts, the peace talks were met with complete silence from Apple. Instead, it seems like the brand would prefer to address the alleged infringement itself.
Reports last month said that Apple developers were working on an update that would disable blood oxygen monitoring on smartwatches. These changes will need to be approved by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency before being officially rolled out to users. This decision should have already occurred by the time of writing this article. However, when we checked CBP's Recent Decisions page, there was nothing related to the Apple Watch.
ITC attorneys, of course, are aware of this tactic, going so far as to call Apple pinning its hopes on getting the correct resolution from CBP “out of character.”
Possible ban coming soon
MacRumors goes on to say that the Court of Appeals is accepting responses from outside parties that agree with the ITC until Monday, January 15. On that date, both Apple Watch models may be banned for a second time. It's hard to say for sure. If you want to know all the details of the situation, MacRumors published the ITC document on Scribd for free.
While we have it, be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best smartwatches for 2024. You might need a new one.
