Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
Just Tuesday, we reported on Apple trying to circumvent the import ban by dropping the blood-oxygen monitoring sensor on it. Until the new watches without the sensor were out, the ban was temporarily lifted, allowing Apple to start selling again. CNBC just reported that the Cupertino company has again been banned from selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches. According to them, a federal appeals court will resume the ban starting Thursday.
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This is a lot of back and forth, we know. Let’s break this down. Due to an old battle that Apple and a Californian health-tech company, Masimo, have been fighting, the Apple watches Series 9 and Ultra 2 were banned in both retail stores and on Apple’s online shop.
Allegedly, Apple stole some confidential info from one of the two companies’ meetings regarding a potential collaboration. Masimo claims Apple later declined the collaboration but ended up stealing Masimo’s tech along with poaching some of their top executives.
As a consequence, Apple was banned from selling its watches. The oxygen sensor was first added to the Series 6 Watch and has been a part of all its watches ever since. However, since Apple discontinued older models anyway, the Series 9 and the Ultra 2 are the only models that received the ban.
Right before the end of last year, the two models were taken off the shelves but quickly became available again just a few days ago as the court was re-reviewing the case. According to Wired, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit refused to extend the pause on the ban and ordered Apple to officially halt sales of the watches by 5 pm ET on Thursday, January 18.
We have reached out to Apple for a statement on the matter and will update this article when and if they get back.