Apple Removes Apple Watch Pulse Oximetry Feature to Avoid Ban

Apple can likely continue selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States now that it’s removed a patented feature from the devices.

As you may know, medical technology company Masimo has long complained that the Apple Watch violates two patents it received for blood oxygen detection. But with a court case languishing in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California for over three years, it finally got the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the importing of these devices into the U.S. That ban was set to go into effect on December 21, but Apple won an emergency appeal to pause the ban.

During this time, Apple worked to implement a technical workaround that didn’t violate the Masimo patents. But when that failed, it simply removed the offending feature, called pulse oximetry. And it appears that this strategy worked, as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruled that Apple was no longer importing products that violate the Masimo patents, rendering the ITC court case moot.

“On Friday, January 12, the Exclusion Order Enforcement Branch (EOE) of U.S. Customs and Border Protection decided that Apple’s redesign falls outside the scope of the remedial orders in the ITC Investigation underlying Apple’s appeal,” a filing from Masimo’s legal team reads. “Apple explained ‘that its Redesigned Watch Products definitively do not contain pulse oximetry functionality.’ Because Apple has maintained that certain information in the EOE proceeding is confidential, Masimo does not provide a copy of the decision with this letter. Currently, no public version of the decision exists … Apple’s arguments lead to the conclusion that the EOE Branch decision finding the redesign outside the scope of the remedial orders would eliminate any irreparable harm alleged by Apple.”

The changes apply only to Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2—and older Apple Watch models with pulse oximetry features—in the United States. But this case may not be over quite yet, as Apple and the ITC have yet to weigh in.