Removing feature to watch may avoid ban
Apple to remove blood-oxygen tool to avoid ban, Masimo says
Apple Inc. is removing a blood-oxygen feature from its latest smartwatches — the Series 9 and Ultra 2 — to get around a U.S. ban stemming from a patent dispute with Masimo Corp.
The disclosure was made Monday by Masimo, which said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection approved the change on Jan. 12. The agency “decided that Apple's redesign falls outside the scope” of an import ban by the U.S. International Trade Commission, signaling that the adjustment will let Apple keep its watches on the market.
The ITC had ruled in October that Apple's devices violated Masimo patents related to blood-oxygen measurement. That led Apple to pause sales of the smartwatches just ahead of Christmas, though an interim stay allowed the company to bring the products back late last month.
The iPhone maker developed a software workaround intended to sidestep the dispute and presented the solution last week to the customs agency, which is in charge of enforcing import bans. Apple explained that the redesigned watches “definitively” do not contain the technology at issue, known as pulse oximetry, according to Masimo.
The customs agency hasn't publicly published its decision, but shared it with the parties. Apple and Masimo didn't respond to requests for comment.
Removing the technology from the Apple Watch was a dramatic step. The company's engineers have been working on a software update that changes the blood-oxygen app and its algorithms in a way that might circumvent the issue without losing the feature. But eliminating the capability was likely the quickest way to avoid seeing the ban reimposed, which could have occurred as early as this month.