If you're happy that the banned Apple watches can be purchased again, you might want to put your wallet back down. After the ban was shortly lifted, the tech giant is once again taking the smart watches off the shelves.
Apple Watches Banned Again
The ban lift was short-lived and some were lucky enough to have bought the affected watches before they were removed from the stores again. This might be confusing for some since Apple has done this twice now, which is understandable for prospective buyers.
With the decision of a federal appeals court, the ban will resume on Thursday. This just shows how much of a headache a simple feature can cause, as well as the sales that Apple will be missing for using allegedly unlicensed technology.
Apple banned the Series 9 and Ultra 2 first back in December 2023, ahead of the actual date when it was no longer allowed to have the watches in its stores. While this was happening, Apple was working on two angles to make sure that the watch went back to market.
The allegedly licensed technology was Apple's oxygen sensor on the watches, which Masimo, a health-technology company claims was already patented, as reported by Gizmodo. The dispute goes beyond the use of the sensor technology as well.
Masimo claims that Apple poached its executives, offering them more money, and allowing them to bring confidential information over to Apple. Obviously, this did not go Apple's way since the International Trade Commission (ITC) decided to keep the watches off the shelves and online.
Apple tried to circumvent the ban by trying to develop updates to the software and the watch's algorithms, as well as approach the Biden administration hoping that it would reverse the decision of the ITC with its power to veto.
Losing the Patent Dispute
The ITC's ruling was in favor of Masimo as it claimed that Apple infringed on its blood oxygen level sensors back in October 2023. Masimo CEO Joe Kiani said that Apple did not engage in any licensing negotiation even after the dispute was raised.
Kiani even said that he was willing to sell Apple a chip that was designed by the company for pulse oximeter readings, but Apple never accepted it. The same technology can be found in one of Masimo's products, a medical watch called the W1, as per The New York Times.
The Masimo chief executive even expressed that if Apple did not want to use their chip, he would work with them to make their product good. Once it has been developed to the level of Apple's standards, Kiani would've been happy to give them a license.
In hindsight, this would've been a better scenario as Apple would still be selling the affected smartwatches without any issues now. It's certainly better than allegedly poaching executives and offering them more pay as long as they bring the needed knowledge for the oxygen level tech with them.
