Apple has lost its bid to delay an import and sales ban on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Stanford University law professor Mark Lemley tells the Financial Times that this may not be the last ban.
Cases such as this have become “a very expensive game of chicken” because the final result is hard to predict “and can have a very dramatic result,” he tells the Times (a subscription is required to read the article).
In a filing on Wednesday, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) denied Apple’s motion to stay the ban while awaiting an appeal. The tech faces an import ban based on an alleged violation on patents for the pulse oximeter feature in Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models. The SE and Nike models don’t have the feature, so they can continue to be sold.
The ITC ruling doesn’t kill Apple’s chances of stopping the Apple Watch ban from going into effect. The Biden administration can still step in and veto the ITC’s decision. However, the Presidential Review Period expires on December 25. And I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Presidential veto.
However, Bloomberg reports that Apple is plotting a “rescue mission” for the $17 billion business that includes software fixes and other potential workarounds. The article says that engineers at the company are racing to make changes to algorithms on the device that measure a user’s blood oxygen level — a feature that Masimo claims infringes its patents. They’re adjusting how the technology determines oxygen saturation and presents the data to customers, according to Bloomberg.
