Apple Watches: A Closer Look at a U.S. Trade Commission’s First Order Apple Watch Feature Discontinuation Decision
The current version of the Apple Watches must be discontinued by the end of the day on Thursday, according to a federal court ruling.
The US International Trade Commission stopped Apple from selling its two wearables because of a patent dispute, at the end of the year. The temporary stay of the ban was granted while the court reviewed the case.
Wednesday’s court ruling does not affect the Watch SE, which has no blood-tracking sensors. The cheapest version of the Apple Watch is the SE, and it’s in our best Apple Watches guide.
In a statement, Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani wrote that the court’s decision to reinstate the feature ban “affirms that even the largest and most powerful companies must respect the intellectual rights of American inventors and must deal with the consequences when they are caught infringing others’ patents.”
Apple said that the U.S. court of appeals should overturn the trade commission’s decision.
According to the tech giant, customers who purchase the watches in the U.S. will still be able to see Apple’s Blood Oxygen app on their devices, but when tapped, users will get a message saying the feature is no longer available.