Image: CHRIS DELMAS (AFP)
The responsible federal appeals court decided on Wednesday to suspend the ban on the import and sale of the watches until the appeal process has been completed.
The import and sales ban came into force on Tuesday after US President Joe Biden’s administration decided not to veto an October decision by the US Foreign Trade Commission (ITC). Apple had already stopped sales of the Apple Watch models from the Series 9 and Ultra 2 series last week as a precautionary measure due to the patent dispute.
The ITC justified its ban on the grounds that Apple had infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corporation and Cercacor Laboratories. Masimo had called the ITC in 2021 and accused Apple of having copied, in particular, a technology for measuring oxygen levels in the blood using light beams.
Apple itself denies the allegations and filed an appeal in a US federal court on Tuesday. This court has now provisionally ruled in favor of Apple. Masimo declined to comment on the decision, and Apple did not initially respond to a request from the AFP news agency. At the end of 2022, Apple itself filed two complaints against Masimo with the ITC – accusing it of having copied Apple’s smartwatch technology.
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