On December 21, the company will stop selling products online, and on Christmas Eve, it will stop selling products in stores.
Apple has announced that sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will soon come to an end in the US due to an International Trade Commission (ITC) ban stemming from a patent dispute over the wearables’ blood oxygen sensor. Sales will be suspended online this week and at Apple retail locations after December 24. If you are planning to purchase one of these wearables, you may want to move quickly.
Apple said in a statement to Newtechmania that “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 is taking preemptive steps to comply should the ruling stand, including pausing sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Apple.com starting December 21 and from Apple retail locations after December 24.” The review period will not end until December 25.
Due to its lack of a blood oxygen sensor, the Apple Watch SE will still be sold. Apple Watch units that have already been purchased and have the blood oxygen feature will not be impacted (the Apple Watch Series 6 was the company’s first device to offer blood-oxygen monitoring). The Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 will still be sold outside of the United States.
In October, the ITC upheld a judge’s ruling from earlier this year that the Apple Watch did violate Masimo’s patents. The ITC’s order blocks all Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 imports to the US after December 25. Other retailers, like Amazon and Best Buy, can continue to sell the devices for the time being. Masimo, a medical tech company, sued Apple in 2021 over alleged violations of patents related to light-based blood-oxygen monitoring.
President Biden has one more week to decide whether to veto the ITC order, but Apple has chosen to proactively comply with the commission’s decision. After the ITC’s decision, the matter was sent to the White House for a 60-day Presidential Review Period.
Once the Presidential Review Period ends on December 25, Apple intends to file an appeal with the Federal Circuit. It may also settle with Masimo or release software updates that render patent infringements void (perhaps by turning off blood oxygen features). The US Trade Representative will also examine the ITC’s order and may choose to reject it for reasons of policy.
“Apple strongly disagrees with the order and is pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers. Should the order stand, Apple will continue to take all necessary steps to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the US as soon as possible,” the company stated. “Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features,” the statement reads.
Apple has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Masimo in October 2022, claiming that the latter has replicated patented Apple Watch features. Masimo has developed its own wearable, which Apple believes is a copycat of the Apple Watch.