Apple Watches Banned again in U.S.

From Jan. 18, Apple will again be banned from selling Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 devices in the US due to its ongoing patent infringement case with Masimo.

Apple had already appealed the ban and a short stay was put in place — but that all changed today with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit lifting the stay, which will once again prevent Apple from selling its two best Apple Watches in the U.S.

The move means that Apple can no longer sell the Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2, while an import ban on the prodcuts means that third-party retailers will only be able to sell the inventory that they currently have.

Once they run out of those two Apple Watch models, they’re gone until the situation is resolved.

Apple is planning to remove its blood-oxygen feature from the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, to circumvent the issue.

Masimo has been locked in a feud with Apple over patents related to the technology. The ITC had ruled in October that Apple’s devices violated Masimo patents related to blood-oxygen measurement.

That led Apple to pause sales of the smartwatches just ahead of Christmas, though an interim stay allowed the company to bring the products back late last month.

Apple developed a software workaround intended to sidestep the dispute and presented the solution last week to the customs agency, which is in charge of enforcing import bans. Apple explained that the redesigned watches “definitively” do not contain the technology at issue, known as pulse oximetry.