Apple has officially taken down the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 from its online store to comply with a sales ban handed down by the US International Trade Commission over a patent infringement dispute. Customers are no longer able to purchase the affected Apple Watch models online from Apple.com in the United States as of Thursday, December 21 at noon Pacific Time.
The sales ban will expand to all Apple Store retail locations in the US from Sunday, December 24. Customers will still be able to purchase the affected Apple Watch models from third-party merchants like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart while supplies last. Once supplies are exhausted, they will no longer be able to import additional stock as the import and sales ban order from the ITC officially goes into effect on Monday, December 25.
The sales ban is due to a longstanding patent dispute between Apple and Masimo over the former allegedly infringing the latter’s blood oxygen sensor technology. As a result, the temporary ban will affect all Apple Watch models that include a blood oxygen sensor.
The sales halt is expected to last indefinitely until Apple either settles with Masimo over its alleged patent infringement lawsuit or is granted a successful appeal with the ITC to reverse its order. The Biden administration has until December 25 to veto the sales pause order, but this is looking increasingly unlikely. Apple is set to file an appeal with the ITC to reverse its order as soon as Tuesday, December 26.
Apple engineers are also said to be working tirelessly to introduce software changes to the algorithms that control the blood oxygen sensor on the affected Apple Watch models. Even then, this may not be enough to restore sales since Masimo’s patents cover both hardware and software.
If Apple exhausts all possible appeals to resume selling the affected Apple Watch models, the company might be left with no choice but to issue a software update to disable the blood oxygen sensor if it gets desperate to resume sales.
Customers can still order the Apple Watch SE online and in-store as it is not affected by the sales ban. To read and learn more about the sales ban and how Apple found itself in this situation, click here.
