ALBAWABA - On 26th of October last year, Apple lost their case against technology company called Masimo that started in 2021, the US International Trade Commission has upheld an earlier judge’s decision that states Apple has violated medical patents from Masimo, causing Apple to delist all their watch models from their online and physical stores.
Few days later, Apple federally decision in Washington D.C. court and lifted the import ban, however, the ban is now back in place forcing apple to stop selling Apple Watch models that contain the disputed light-based blood-oxygen sensor.
Apple commented that the ruling should be reversed, but until a new appeal takes in place, the tech giant is planning to sell redesigned watches that lack the blood-oxygen monitoring features, “Pending the appeal, Apple is taking steps to comply with the ruling while ensuring customers have access to Apple Watch with limited disruption” Apple said.
According to Apple, the blood monitoring app will still be available on the redesigned watches, but tapping on it will result in a notification stating that it is no longer accessible. In addition, the notification directs you to visit the Health app on your iPhone for more details, where you will find a link to a support article on the business' website.
Apple has announced NERFED Apple Watch Series 9/Ultra 2 models without blood oxygen monitoring that go on sale January 18 😳
— AppleTrack (@appltrack) January 18, 2024
Users will encounter an error message if they try to launch the blood oxygen app on these revised models... pic.twitter.com/rrmXG0gvNE
On the other hand, Masimo made a statement celebrating their winning over the case, with CEO Joe Kiani saying “Today’s ruling by the USITC sends a powerful message that even the world’s largest company is not above the law”. This leaves Apple with very limited options like settling with Masimo or flat-out remove the functionality with no return via software patches.
