ITC files with court to end temporary stay on Apple Watch exclusion order

This could be a very eventful week for the International Trade Commission's (ITC) Exclusion Order on the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the U.S.. To recap where we are now, back in January of last year, an ITC judge ruled that Apple had infringed on one hardware patent owned by Masimo for the pulse oximeter used on certain Apple Watch models. Four additional claims made by Masimo against Apple were denied by the ITC.

The ITC imposed an import ban in the States against the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Apple started following the ban early by removing the offending Apple Watch models from its U.S. online Apple Store on December 21st and followed that up by removing the timepieces from physical U.S. Apple Stores on December 24th. President Biden could have vetoed the Exclusion Order after the 60-day Presidential Review period ended on December 25th but failed to do so. The cynical might note that Biden has a friendship with Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani.

Apple was able to get a temporary stay on the Exclusion Order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit while appealing the original ITC ruling that Apple infringed on the Masimo patent. With the stay, the tech giant was able to return the affected timepieces to the online and physical Apple Stores in the U.S.. Apple seeks a longer-term stay while its appeal makes its way through the appropriate courts. At the same time, the company submitted a software modification for the watches to U.S. Customs that Apple hopes will provide enough of a workaround to get it out from under Masimo's patent. A ruling is expected this Friday, January 12th.

Per Reuters, should Customs agree that Apple can sell a modified version of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Masimo would not be able to appeal that decision and would have to start from scratch by filing a completely new case with the ITC.

When Apple was awarded the temporary stay of the Exclusion Order by the U.S. Court of Appeals, it gave the ITC until today to explain why Apple should not receive a longer-term stay covering it until the appeals process ends. The ITC submitted that filing with the Federal Circuit Court and depending on what that court rules, Apple could be forced to once again pull the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from U.S. Apple Stores both physical and online.

The pulse oximeter measures the saturation of oxygen carried in the user's red blood cells. A reading in the range of 95%-100% is considered normal.