Apple has said that from tomorrow, when the second Apple Watch sales ban is schedule to come into force in the US, it will disable the blood oxygen feature from new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra models, circumventing the ban and allowing it to continue selling the models lawfully.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday officially denied Apple’s request to pause the sales ban, which entered effect in late December before being suspended temporarily a few days later.
When the ban is reinstated, Apple will be prohibited from selling the Apple Watch models equipped with blood oxygen sensing in the United States, so by removing the feature, Apple is able to bypass the ban and avoid interruption to sales.
Masimo, a U.S.-based medical technology company, initiated a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of infringing on patents related to blood oxygen sensing technology. This feature was first introduced with the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020, providing users with information about the oxygen levels in their blood.
“Apple is taking steps to comply with the ruling while ensuring customers have access to Apple Watch with limited disruption,” said Apple on Wednesday. “These steps include introducing a version of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States without the Blood Oxygen feature. There is no impact to Apple Watch units previously purchased that include the Blood Oxygen feature.”