Ban on Apple Watch sales paused by Appeals Court

Innovation

An appeals court has paused the sales ban on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Apple Watch Series 9, allowing the company to resume sales from January 5 through January 10.
Bargain Hunters Hit The Streets As Sales Begin

Apple won a temporary victory in their patent dispute over new Apple Watch models.

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Key Facts

The ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal District on Wednesday temporarily blocked a decision by the International Trade Commission that found Apple infringed on medical supply company Masimo’s patent for a blood-oxygen detection technology.

Apple appealed the decision by the International Trade Commission on Tuesday, shortly after President Biden declined to veto the ITC’s decision.

Lawyers for the tech giant argued that Apple would “suffer continuing irreparable harm to its reputation and goodwill” if it is not allowed to sell Apple Watches with the technology selling its flagship Apple Watch products with the technology.

Apple is requesting a longer stay, and the court gave the ITC until January 10 to file a response to Apple’s request.

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Key Background

Over the last year, Apple has been involved in a prolonged patent dispute with medical tech manufacturer Masimo Corp. An earlier lawsuit ended in a mistrial, but the U.S. International Trade Commission eventually determined in October that Apple had infringed on two of Masimo’s patents for pulse oximeter technology—which Apple Watches use to measure blood-oxygen levels. The ITC banned sales of two new models released in 2023—the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Apple Watch Series 9. Apple halted in-sale stores of both models on December 24, and halted online sales the prior week, Apple told the appeals court. The company began using the feature with new watches with the Series 6 in 2020.

This post originally appeared on Forbes.com

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