He Apple Watch is center stage again, but this time for the most undesirable reasons. The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that Apple violated patents during its development and prohibited its importation into North American territory.
As reported The Wall Street Journal, the agency issued a “limited exclusion order” that impacts certain models of the Apple Watch. Although it is not specified which ones, it would be from the Watch Series 6—already discontinued—onwards. In any case, the import veto is not immediately applicable and those of Cupertino They still have some resources to cancel it.
The ITC’s decision, which upheld an original ruling from last January, will now be under review by the White House. Joe Biden’s administration will have 60 days to decide whether or not he vetoes the ban. After that period ends, Apple may file an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
It is worth mentioning that Apple faces different cases in which it is accused of having violated patents during the development of the Apple Watch. In this case, the import ban corresponds to a lawsuit filed by Masimowhich accuses those from Cupertino of stealing its pulse oximeter technology applied in the smart watch.
In 2021, the aforementioned company accused Apple of infringing 5 of its patents. However, when the ITC presented its initial verdict earlier this year, it determined that the Apple Watch infringed only one of the patents in question. A final decision from the body was expected in May, but it was delayed until yesterday.
The US could ban the sale of the Apple Watch
An interesting fact about this legal battle between Apple and Masimo over the Apple Watch is that, originally, both companies were allies. In fact, Tim Cook’s people supposedly considered buying the medical technology specialists, although they later gave up. However, they would have proceeded to “steal” multiple engineers who would then have dedicated themselves to working on the smartwatch.
Another curious issue in this case is that Apple also sued Masimo for patent infringement, accusing it of copying the Apple Watch to create its own watch. An intersection of accusations that does not appear to have a prompt resolution. An Apple spokeswoman told Reuters that, although the ITC ruling does not immediately impact consumers, They will continue to fight for it to be reversed.
For now, all eyes are on the White House. While US presidents do not typically veto decisions of the International Trade Commission, there have been exceptions. In 2013, for example, Barack Obama stopped a resolution that would have blocked the marketing of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 during the extensive conflict between Apple and Samsung.
If all avenues were exhausted and the Apple Watch veto was upheld, Tim Cook’s people would also have some technical tools to evade it. For example, updating watchOS to block features that use infringing components. In any case, this would be stated as a last resort scenario.
Let us remember that the Apple Watch also faces another potential blockage on its import due to a lawsuit AliveCor. In this case, for the alleged violation of patents in its cardiac monitoring technology.