US Trade Tribunal to Reassess Possible Apple Watch Import Ban

The U.S. International Trade Commission said Friday it will reopen the proceedings over whether imports of Apple's newly updated Apple Watches should once again face a ban - a review connected to an ongoing patent battle with medical technology firm Masimo, which says Apple continues to infringe on its blood-oxygen-sensing technology.

In the order granting notice, the ITC said it would determine if the redesigned watches—altered to avoid an earlier import ban—continue to infringe Masimo’s patented pulse-oximetry inventions. The Commission currently expects to make a final determination within six months.

Apple has dismissed the case as a baseless attempt to thwart its popular blood-oxygen feature. The tech giant is also accusing Masimo of having copied the design of the Apple Watch in trying to justify its complaint.

A broader legal war between Apple and Masimo

The suit represents just one front in a sprawling legal feud between Apple and Masimo, an Irvine-based health-monitoring technology company. Masimo has long accused Apple of poaching key employees to replicate its pulse-oximetry technology for use in the Apple Watch.

In 2023, the ITC banned imports of Apple's Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches after ruling that Apple had infringed Masimo's patents. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company temporarily disabled the blood-oxygen feature to comply, before reinstating it in an updated form after getting the green light from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Masimo has since sued Customs over that decision, while Apple is separately appealing the ITC's earlier import ban in federal court.

The courtroom clashes don't stop there: Masimo has accused Apple of both patent infringement and trade-secret theft in a California federal case. On Friday, a Santa Ana jury ordered Apple to pay $634 million in damages for infringing one of Masimo's patents. A related trade-secret trial ended in a mistrial last year after jurors failed to reach consensus.

For its part, Apple scored a symbolic victory in Delaware last year, where a jury awarded the company just $250 in a countersuit claiming Masimo's smartwatches violated two of Apple's design patents.