One day after the Apple Watch import ban went into effect in the United States, an appeals court decided so I put a pause. The pause also comes a day after Apple filed an emergency request with the US Court of Appeals.
The temporary suspension will remain in place until the court takes further action. However, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 remain unavailable on the company’s website nearly a week after they were initially pulled.
The battle centers around a pair of trademarks that Southern California health tech company Masimo claims Apple infringed with its wearable device’s pulse oximetry sensor. Masimo also accused Apple of poaching Masimo employees to build the blood oxygen sensor, which first arrived in 2020 with the Watch Series 6.
Apple has not yet responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment on this latest update, but the hardware giant has strongly denied violating Masimo’s intellectual property rights. After the Biden administration declined to challenge the ITC’s October ruling yesterday, Apple noted: “We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and the resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the United States.” United States as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, Massimo classified the battle as a battle between David and Goliath. In October, founder and CEO Joe Kiani noted, “Today’s ruling by the USITC sends a strong message that even the world’s largest company is not above the law. This important decision is a strong affirmation of our efforts to hold Apple accountable for… Illegal misappropriation of our patented technology.
Masimo has indicated that it might be open to licensing the technology to Apple for a fee, although the latter is currently interested in exploring all legal avenues.