In a dramatic turn of events, tech giant Apple has secured a crucial temporary halt to the ban on its Apple Watch series. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has granted Apple a respite, allowing the company to continue selling and importing its watches with blood oxygen sensors.
This decision comes in the wake of a contentious patent infringement dispute with Masimo, a battle that has gripped the tech world in recent months.
Apple had faced a critical setback when the Biden administration chose not to intervene, triggering the ban on sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. However, the Cupertino giant swiftly moved to appeal the decision, seeking a pause until further clarity was obtained in January.
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In a statement addressing the recent turn of events, Apple highlighted the potential damage the ban could inflict, citing “irreparable harm” if the restrictions remained in place. The company expressed confidence in a proposed software update as a potential resolution to the issue, eagerly awaiting a decision from Customs and Border Protection, scheduled for January 12, 2024.
Crucially, Apple’s appeal outlined redacted details pertaining to a redesign of the contentious watches. The tech giant firmly believes that this redesign will eliminate any plausible infringement concerns, positioning the modified products beyond the scope of the current remedial orders.
Apple’s legal maneuvering included a plea for an expedited resolution, emphasizing a proposed briefing schedule that could have hastened the decision by late December. However, the current timeline places the pivotal ruling on January 12, nearly three weeks after the initial imposition of the Apple Watch ban.
Bloomberg’s earlier report on Apple’s efforts to circumvent the ban on Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor has ignited a heated debate within the tech industry. The report suggested that Apple was racing to develop software workarounds for the sensor, intending to submit these changes to the U.S. customs agency.
This development injects a dose of optimism into Apple’s ongoing struggle against the ban, setting the stage for a crucial decision on January 10 that could determine the fate of the sales restriction.
However, the patent dispute’s intensity became clearer as Masimo, the opposing party in the infringement battle, challenged Apple’s proposed solution. Masimo has emphatically stated that merely implementing a software fix won’t suffice. According to Masimo, the fundamental hardware of the Apple Watch needs modification to comply with the patent regulations, dismissing Apple’s software-based remedy as inadequate.
See copies of the ruling below:
Apple achieved a temporary victory in its smartwatch battle Wednesday when an appeals court temporarily paused the import ban on two models of the company’s popular smartwatches. Apple was forced to stop selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches in the U.S. after a federal trade agency found it had infringed on two patents for a blood-oxygen sensor held by Masimo. Apple Watch sales, driven largely by the Series 9 and Ultra 2, accounted for about $21 billion in revenue in 2022.
Apple had filed its appeal on Tuesday, a day after the White House declined to reverse the sales ban. Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset is expected to be launched in retail stores in late January or February, analysts and insiders say. (LinkedIn News)