Apple may have found a way to avoid a US import ban on two of its popular Watch devices, but the solution would require the tech giant to ditch a highly-touted and legally contentious blood oxygen feature to do so. The proposed changes could help bring an end to Appleās years-long legal dispute with medical technology firm Masimo, which claims Apple copied its patented āpulse oximeterā blood oxygen sensors and included it in its Series 9 and Ultra 2 devices. Apple could still avoid dropping the blood oxygen tech if a US Appeals court grants it a continued stay to keep selling the disputed devices while the company tries to reverse the ban.Ā
The US Customs and Border Protection agency reportedly agreed a redesigned Apple Watch without the patented blood oxygen monitoring tech āfalls outside of the scopeā of the International Trade Commissionās (ITC) import and sales ban handed down last October, according to a January 15 court filing from Masimo. Apple reportedly said these reworked versions of the watch under consideration ādefinitively do not include pulse oximetry functionality.ā
US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to PopSciās request for comment.Ā
The news comes roughly three months after the ITC determined the two Apple Watch models violated Masimoās patent protections. That ruling led to a shocking ban on the import and sales of those Apple devices in the US and weeks of dramatic legal pleas from Apple fervently fighting to stave off the ban, some reaching as high as the presidency. Apple managed to win an emergency interim stay which lets the company temporarily continue selling the disputed devices while the legal process played out.Ā
Though itās still unclear exactly how Apple intends to sell the devices without the blood oxygen feature, Bloomberg reports a fix may come shortly via a āsoftware workaround.ā That same report claims Appleās operations team has already begun…
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