After losing a patent case, Apple can no longer import most models of its computer clock into the USA and therefore cannot sell them in the home market.
According to a statement on Tuesday, Trade Representative Katherine Tai decided on behalf of the White House not to veto the import ban by the ITC authority. The Masimo Group accuses Apple of stopping sales of the current Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models in the USA last week as a precautionary measure. The decision has no impact on sales in other countries. Apple appealed on Tuesday.
The American medical technology company Masimo accuses Apple of using a patented technology for measuring the oxygen content in the blood in its watches without a license. In October, Masimo prevailed in proceedings before the US trade authority ITC, which banned the import of the affected Apple Watch models into the USA. The White House was able to overturn the decision with a veto, but has now decided against it.
Other US retailers such as Best Buy can still sell previously launched inventory of Apple Watches. Apple itself continues to offer its Watch SE model in the USA, which does not have a sensor for measuring the oxygen content in the blood.
Apple announced last week that it disagreed with the ITC’s decision and was pursuing various options to continue making the watches available to consumers. On Tuesday, Apple went to court to appeal to overturn the ITC decision. The company also requested that the import ban be suspended for a good two weeks in an expedited procedure. An application to suspend the import ban for the entire duration of the appeal process had previously been rejected. According to information from the Bloomberg news agency, Apple is trying to circumvent the Masimo patents with a software change. One possibility would also be to deactivate the sensor for measuring the oxygen content. However, it is unclear whether such solutions would be sufficient for ITC.
On the NASDAQ stock exchange, Apple shares temporarily lost 0.22 percent to $193.18.
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