In mid-December, Apple briefly suspended sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States due to a patent dispute with medical technology company Masimo over blood oxygen sensing. Apple subsequently appealed to the courts and was granted a temporary stay of the ban, so the ban was suspended and sales temporarily resumed.
Today, according to a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) formally opposed Apple’s motion to stay the ban pending appeals.
"Apple has made a weak and unpersuasive case for a stay of the injunction pending appeal, and its argument is nothing more than an undisputed infringer's request to be allowed to continue to infringe the asserted patents," ITC lawyers said in their response.
Masimo has accused Apple of stealing trade secrets and poaching employees to develop the blood oxygen sensing feature that debuted on the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020. As a result, the ITC banned the sale of Apple Watch models that offer this feature, a ruling that briefly halted sales of Series 9, Ultra 2, and some refurbished Series 7 and Series 8 models last month until the ban was suspended. Apple has discontinued Series 6, and Apple Watch SE is not affected because it does not provide blood oxygen sensing function.
The court is still accepting "support replies" until January 15th, so the Apple Watch can continue to be imported and sold until at least later this week.
Apple is reportedly making software changes to address alleged patent infringement, but Masimo believes the Apple Watch's hardware design must change to comply. Last month, Masimo said it was open to settlement talks, but Apple reportedly didn't express any interest at the time.
The ITC's full response can be found in this PDF:
https://www.scribd.com/document/698059705/ITC-Opposition-to-Motion-for-Stay-in-Apple-Masimo-Case