The saga of the Apple Watch patent infringement has reached a crescendo. U.S. Customs has decided that Apple’s proposed redesign of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra Watch 2 is enough to get around the patent infringement which has been dogging Apple for some time. This could mean they will avoid the sales ban hanging over the company.
But here’s the kicker: the Watches might no longer offer blood oxygen monitoring, at least for now. Wow. Here’s what we know.
In case you’re not up to speed, Apple has been in legal conflict with the medical device maker Masimo, which says Apple’s blood oxygen monitoring, a feature in all Watches apart from the Apple Watch SE since Apple Watch Series 6, infringed Masimo’s patents.
In October, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that some Watches infringed Masimo’s patents, leading to a brief time around Christmas when the Watches were removed from sale. Apple appealed and this brought the products back to Apple Stores, a situation which may end in the coming days.
So, Apple needed to come up with a solution which would avoid any patent infringement—something which Masimo said could only be done with a change to hardware, not software alone.
However, it looks like Apple may have found a workaround, but it comes at a price: the significant removal of the controversial blood oxygen feature.
The plan was revealed on Monday, January 15, when Masimo said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has approved a move from Apple. According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Masimo has pointed out that the CBP agency “decided that Apple’s redesign falls outside the scope” of an import ban by the US International Trade Commission,” which means the Watches can stay on sale.
Gurman said, “Apple explained that the redesigned watches ‘definitively’ do not contain the technology at issue, known as pulse oximetry, according to Masimo.”
In other words, if Apple’s appeal succeeds, so that the stay on the import and sales ban continues, the Watches will still have the pulse oximetry feature. But if the appeal fails, then Apple will sell Apple Watches which do not feature blood oxygen monitoring, in the United States.
It’s important to note that Watches already in customers’ hands are unaffected by the ban, if it returns, and it only applies in the U.S.
And if it does, then you can still buy the Series 9 and Ultra 2, but a key feature, blood oxygen monitoring, will be missing. Gurman says that the Watches without pulse oximetry are being shipped to U.S. stores so they can go on sale if the appeal fails, possibly as soon as this week.
It’s a rum state of affairs: buy the Watches now and you get a great health feature. Buy Series 9 or Ultra 2 from Apple after the appeal fails—if it does—and that key feature is missing. At least until Apple finds a way to work with the existing hardware without treading on anyone’s patents. More as we have it.
