- US regulators said that Apple violated patents with its popular watches.
- The decision means an impending sales ban on the watches, which Apple attempted to delay.
- Regulators rejected Apple’s bid on Wednesday, leaving the decision up to the Biden Administration.
Apple’s attempt to delay a US sales ban on its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches was rejected by regulators on Wednesday, leaving the chance to reverse the ban up to President Joe Biden.
In October, the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which oversees trade and intellectual property disputes, sided with an earlier ruling by an ITC judge that said Apple violated patents belonging to a medical tech company called Masimo with its blood oxygen tracking functionality in some of its watches.
Apple previously said it disagreed with the ITC’s findings but announced plans on Monday to preemptively pull its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watch lineup from US shelves. Those plans appear to be moving ahead after the ITC denied Apple’s attempt to delay the ban, according to a notice filed by the commission on Wednesday.
The last day to purchase the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches online is December 21. Retail stores will stop selling the models outright on December 24. Third-party sellers such as Best Buy or Amazon can continue selling the watches until supplies run out.
While Apple has said it will appeal the decision, which could take more than a year to resolve, the company’s most immediate hope to reverse the ban before Christmas Day lies in the hands of the White House.
The Biden administration had 60 days since the ITC order was issued on October 26 to veto the decision; the review period will expire on December 25.
But a last-minute intervention from Biden is unlikely, experts say.
“Historically, presidents have used disapproval authority only five times since the ITC’s formation (in 1916),” attorneys with Milbank LLP, an international corporate law firm, wrote in 2011.
The sixth time an ITC ruling was reversed was in 2013, when President Barack Obama vetoed a decision to ban some iPhone and iPad models.
A veto usually requires a company to prove that there is a public interest or that it’s a health policy matter, The Verge reported.
Apple also has been looking for workarounds through software updates, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Since the Apple Watch was introduced in 2015, the product quickly rose to prominence and held about 30% of the global smartwatch market in 2022, according to Statista.
The ban will likely amount to $300 to $400 million in losses in holiday-season sales — a small scratch compared to the $120 billion the company is expected to rake in between October and December.
An attorney and spokesperson for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
