Apple officially announced this Will stop selling the newest Apple Watch models in the US It starts this week. Now both Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will not be available for sale. At least temporarily. The worst part is that the marketing disruption comes just in time for Christmas.

Due to this worrying situation for Apple, everything seems to indicate that Apple Watch sales figures will decrease. The company’s decision to stop Apple Watch sales is coming By order of the International Trade Commission (ITC) It is based on the allegation of infringement of a registered patent belonging to the Masimo brand.

Below we analyze the case. We reported the impact of the ban on Apple Watch sales and will share it with the public. Statement from Apple representative and details of the alleged patent infringement.

Sale of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 is prohibited

Unfortunately, many US consumers will not open this box for Christmas.

Decision banning the sale of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 It will be valid in the USA starting from December 25th. The company, which has bitten the Apple logo, will not be able to market the units of these two Apple Watch models in authorized stores.

Apple talked about this issue A few words about the International Trade Commission’s ban are included in this issue’s statement to 9to5mac:

“The Presidential Review Period for the U.S. International Trade Commission’s decision regarding a technical intellectual property dispute regarding the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen function continues.”

The decision to veto the United States International Trade Commission’s decision is now up to President Joe Biden. Although this is unlikely to happen.

US President Joe Biden has the power to veto such trade bans

Similarly, Apple has assured that its team of engineers will work overtime to create products and services that will improve the lives of its customers. They completely disagree with the International Trade Commission’s order and will take appropriate legal and technical measures to resolve the matter.

This last point is really interesting because Apple states that they will take “legal and technical” actions. The fact that Apple is evaluating all “technical” possibilities means that the company disable the operability of the patent-infringing function (SpO2) to avoid paying further compensation in case they lose the legal dispute.

Alleged infringement of Masimo patents

Legal dispute with Apple and Masimo

Masimo is a medical technology company that has been involved in numerous lawsuits with Apple over the past few years. The first of these occurred at the beginning of 2020, when Apple was accused of infringing a total of 10 patents registered by Masimo. In this case, the possible breach was related to the implementation of the atrial fibrillation function by the Apple Watch heart rate sensor.

But everything in theory dates back to 2013. Apple could have contacted Masimo to request a collaboration meeting between both companies. If so, Apple would have initially planned to work on the development of the Apple Watch project in partnership with Masimo.

Obviously both companies could not reach an agreement. According to Masimo, the meetings ended with great satisfaction, but later Apple has started hiring its company’s key employees. They believe it was all intentional and aimed at stealing Apple’s trade secrets.

Finally in June 2022, Masimo sued Apple again He claimed that the blood oxygen measurement sensor’s technology infringed on a number of patents belonging to his intellectual property.

In total, Masimo blames Apple: 103 examples of violations Terms in 5 different patents.

It’s not the first time Apple has faced a similar lawsuit. The company AliveCor also accused Apple of infringing its patents several times, this time related to electrocardiogram (ECG) technology.

Are Apple Watch sales in danger in Spain?

Promotional images of the second generation Apple Watch Ultra

In principle and for now, Sales of the latest Apple Watch models are not in danger in Spain or other countries. Apple’s newest smartwatches are still available for purchase at the Apple Store. However, if the ban in the US continues and Apple is forensically proven to have infringed on Masimo’s patent, sales of these products are likely to be restricted internationally through 2024.

Moreover, The ban is expected to have a major impact on availability Stocks of the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models will be significantly reduced in all stores.

But before this happens Apple will defend reaching economic agreement with Masimo –and/or disable your Apple Watch’s blood oxygen saturation measurement–and resolve the whole mess with multimillion-dollar compensation. We will follow the case and see the outcome.