The Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 may be banned again because the US International Trade Commission (ITC) is not convinced by Apple’s position that the wearables should continue to be sold.
MacRumors has unearthed a memo filed by ITC counsel to the US Court of Appeals rejecting the tech giant’s efforts to delay the Apple Watch ban. Currently, the smartwatch creator is appealing the case. The lawyers contend that “Apple [is presenting] a weak and unconvincing case,” claiming that the company intends to “continue infringing [on] the asserted patents.”
If you’re not familiar with the story, the ITC determined in October that Apple had infringed on patents owned by health tech company Masimo. The patents are for blood oxygen monitoring sensors included on some Apple Watch models. As a result, the wearable devices could not be sold. The products were removed from physical shop shelves and the company’s online storefront for a few days in late December. However, Apple successfully appealed the court’s ruling and obtained a stay on the prohibition.
Apple’s Last Chance
It is worth noting that Masimo extended an olive branch several weeks ago. Masimo CEO Joe Kiani told Bloomberg that he is willing to talk things out with Apple, reach an agreement, and possibly even “work with [the company] to improve their product.” It is unclear how much money Kiani sought in the settlement.
Despite Masimo’s best efforts, the peace negotiations were met with complete silence from Apple. Instead, it appears that the brand would rather resolve the alleged violation on their own.
According to reports from last month, Apple developers were working on an upgrade to eliminate blood oxygen monitoring on smartwatches. These changes must be approved by the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) before they are made available to users. This ruling should have been made by now. However, when we examined CBP’s recent Decisions page, there was no mention of the Apple Watch.
A potential ban is coming shortly
MacRumors adds that the Court of Appeals is currently taking replies from outside parties that agree with the ITC until Monday, January 15. On that date, both Apple Watch models could be banned for the second time. It’s difficult to say for sure. If you want to learn more about the situation, MacRumors has made the ITC paper available on Scribd for free.
