The Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 made their return to Apple retail stores on Wednesday and will once again be available in Apple’s online store later today, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. Online sales of the devices are set to resume today by 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Apple is once again allowed to begin selling the above two Apple Watch models following a successful appeal by Apple to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which temporarily paused the import ban levied by the U.S. International Trade Commission. Apple will likely be allowed to sell its Apple Watches at least through most of January or perhaps longer, depending on the court’s decision,
Apple filed an emergency request with the United States Court of Appeals after the Biden administration’s decision not to reverse the sales ban, allowing it to take effect late last week. On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put an interim stay in place while the court reviews Apple’s request for a full stay for the length of the appeal. This effectively pauses the ban on Apple Watch imports and sales for a brief period.
The U.S. ITC has until January 10 to argue its case for the import ban to restart immediately, and the appeals court is accepting letters supporting or opposing the import ban through January 15. The court will make a final ruling on the stay sometime after that date.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ordered a ban on Apple Watch imports into the country. The ban follows a ruling by the ITC that Apple had violated pulse oximetry patents held by Masimo.
Masimo in 2020 claimed Apple stole Masimo employees and stole trade secrets while the Cupertino firm was developing the Apple Watch. Masimo was seeking over $1.8 billion in damages and co-ownership of five Apple pulse oximetry patents that Masimo said used its technology.
The temporary stay on the sales ban not only allows Apple to resume sales of the Apple Watch, it also allows them to provide new stock to third-party retailers to stock up in case the sales ban is reinstated. Retailers in the United States, such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and others, were allowed to continue to sell all Apple Watch models until their inventories are depleted.
Apple engineers are reported to be “racing” to make changes to algorithms on the Apple Watch that measure a user’s blood oxygen level — the feature that Masimo Corp. has argued infringes its patents.
