Apple to appeal ITC import ban on Apple Watches

Apple has asked the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to overturn a trade tribunal’s decision that forced the tech company to remove blood-oxygen reading technology from its Apple Watches.

In 2023, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple Watches violated a pulse oximetry technology patent held by Masimo, an American health technology and consumer electronics company based in Irvine, California.

Masimo convinced the ITC to block the import of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, arguing that Apple’s smartwatches infringed upon Masimo’s patents.

Apple temporarily continued selling its smartwatches after persuading the Federal Circuit to pause the ban. However, the Federal Circuit reinstated the ban the following month, forcing Apple to remove its pulse oximetry capabilities from its watches in the United States.

Apple attorney Joseph Mueller told the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday that the ITC’s decision “deprived millions of Apple Watch users” of Apple's blood-oxygen feature.

On top of that, at the time of the dispute, Masimo didn’t have a product with the blood-oxygen feature. Apple launched its first smartwatch with pulse oximetry technology in 2020, when the company introduced the Apple Watch Series 6. Masimo’s first product with blood-oxygen tracking wasn’t launched until 2022.

Lastly, Apple told the Court of Appeals that the possibly infringed patent of Masimo concerns a “purely hypothetical” device because it didn’t exist at the time. As a matter of fact, Masimo only had prototypes of a smartwatch with pulse oximetry features when it filed its ITC complaint.

Joseph Re, Masimo’s attorney, responded by saying that a “finished product” wasn’t necessary to justify the ITC’s decision at the time.

Apple’s appeal is now pending before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court is expected to issue a ruling later this year.