With Exclusion Order on hold, Apple reveals when the banned watches will be back on sale

Earlier today we told you that Apple has been granted its emergency request for a halt to the International Trade Commission's (ITC) Exclusion Order banning U.S. imports of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The ITC has until January 10th to respond to Apple's request for a longer-term pause on the Exclusion Order while Apple seeks to exhaust all of the options it has to appeal the ruling made by an ITC judge in January that Apple infringed on Masimo's patents for the pulse oximeter used on the Apple Watch.

After President Biden refused to bail out Apple, the company appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Meanwhile, Apple spoke with 9to5Mac about its timetable for returning the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to U.S. physical and virtual Apple Stores. On December 21st, Apple removed the offending watches from the online Apple Store and followed that up by pulling the devices out of physical U.S. Apple Stores on December 24th.

Apple says that select Apple Stores in the U.S. will have the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 back in stock by today. More physical Apple Stores will have these models restocked starting this coming Saturday. The online Apple Store (www.apple.com) will start offering the timepieces again starting Thursday, December 28th, starting at 12 pm PST/3 pm EST.

While Apple can now sell the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the U.S. until the hold on the Exclusion Order ends on January 10th, it has also submitted to U.S. Customs a software update that it claims will allow Apple to offer the pulse oximeter on the Apple Watch without infringing on Masimo's patents. The government is expected to decide on January 12th whether the software update makes enough changes to allow it to end the Exclusion Order.