Biden's administration declines to veto the ITC's Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 import ban over Masimo's patents; Apple asks an appeals court to halt the ban

Reuters 2023-12-27 Blake Brittain

Context & Ripple Effects

The ITC had already refused Apple’s request to keep the affected watches on sale while an appeal proceeded, leaving a presidential review as the company’s last near-term administrative route. The administration’s decision not to intervene moved the dispute squarely into the courts.

The immediate stakes were softened but not resolved when an appeals court later paused the exclusion order pending review. Subsequent coverage also showed that removing pulse-oximetry functionality could provide a route for selling a modified Series 9, underscoring that the fight reaches product design as well as legal process.

First-order effects

Apple faces an enforceable ITC exclusion order for the Series 9 and Ultra 2 unless it secures judicial relief, putting near-term U.S. availability of the affected imports at risk.
Masimo gains immediate negotiating and enforcement leverage after the administration leaves the ITC remedy intact; Apple’s response shifts to its requested appellate stay.

Second-order effects

The case pressures Apple to pursue parallel remedies: appellate litigation and product changes. A later decision allowing sales without pulse oximetry indicates how a disputed feature can become a commercial workaround.
Medical-device patent holders gain a concrete example of how ITC remedies can affect a mass-market wearable, while consumer-device makers have added incentive to assess feature-level patent exposure before launch.

Third-order effects

If upheld or repeatedly used, ITC exclusion orders could make feature redesigns and software disablement a more common response to component- or sensor-related patent disputes, rather than a purely damages-based outcome.
The dispute highlights a structural tension in connected health hardware: product differentiation increasingly depends on functions that can be contested by specialized medical-technology patent owners.

The trend: Consumer wearable makers are facing more pressure to treat health-sensing features as both product differentiators and potential patent-enforcement chokepoints.

Discussion

@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on threads
President Biden declined to intervene and so Apple is now banned from selling its latest Apple Watches in the US due to a patent dispute with Masimo over blood oxygen sensing technology. This issues goes way back to 2013 when Apple originally met with Masimo to discuss their pul…
@edzollars Edward Zollars on threads
Which is why I believe they want the Court of Appeals to rule in their favor. Even if they just get an invalidation of the patent, that might discourage those who want to file similar claims. But, absent the patent being invalidated, this seems like a horrendously bad facts cas…
@wickedplayer494 @wickedplayer494 on threads
The real winner in this Apple Watch Series 9/Ultra 2 patent debacle is Canada. All those watches that Apple can't sell in the US, they probably instructed their stores to box them up and send them to the nearest Apple Store up north to sell here instead.
@edzollars Edward Zollars on threads
They can, which makes the fact that they haven't pursued that option even more interesting at this point. My guess would be that they would expect exposure for other similar situations where they might have acted similarly if they were to pay up on this one.
@florian4gamers Florian Mueller on x
That whole Apple Watch ban story is probably going to be seen as “much ado about nothing” when all is said and done. Been watching countless Apple patent cases for almost 14 years. They often take extreme positions, but in some ways they're reliable. Guess they have a workaround
@chancehmiller Chance Miller on x
Apple spokesperson's statement to 9to5Mac on the Biden administration's decision not to veto the ITC's Apple Watch ban: [Image]
@patrickmoorhead Patrick Moorhead on x
Companies can't steal other company's IP, even if you're Apple and can afford to tie up in court for a decade. Apple “wins” most cases historically by the other company giving up or by winning in court, but bad behavior catches up eventually with Apple as it did with Massimo....
@briantycangco Brian Tycangco on x
Coincidentally Xiaomi also has a smart watch with a BP monitoring function called Watch H1 selling for $260. And I plan to buy one while I'm in town. $XIACF

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