Apple announced that it will stop sales of its “Series 9” and “Ultra 2” smart watches in the United States starting this week, while it faces a patent dispute regarding technology that allows the watches to have the feature of sensing oxygen in the blood.
This step comes after an order issued last October by the US International Trade Commission that may prevent Apple from selling its watches after it found that the devices violated the patent rights of the medical technology company “Massimo”.
Apple stated that the decision is currently before President Joe Biden’s administration for review, but said it is taking steps to comply if the ruling stands. The US Trade Representative’s Office, which is handling the issue in the Biden administration, said Ambassador Katherine Tai is “carefully considering all factors in this case,” and if the office does not object to it, the ban will go into effect on December 26.
The company began stopping sales of watches from its website on December 21 and from its retail sites after the 24th of the same month.
Other models that do not have a blood oxygen sensor, such as the Apple Watch SE, will not be affected by the conflict.
2023-12-24 23:47:45
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