Apple will disable pulse oximeter on new Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches if court rules against it

If it receives an unfavorable ruling in an appeals court decision expected as soon as today, Apple will disable the pulse oximeter on newly sold Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 units to get around the International Trade Commission's (ITC) Exclusion Order. The order originally forced Apple to pull the affected watches from online and physical Apple Stores in the U.S. Apple is currently able to sell the timepieces thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which placed a temporary hold on the Exclusion Order.

Last January, an ITC judge ruled that Apple infringed on one Masimo patent out of five that the company claimed Apple infringed on when it included its pulse oximeter on certain Apple Watch models. After the president refused to veto the ITC's Exclusion Order last month, Apple was forced to take action.

Apple is waiting to hear from the appeals court which is expected to rule on whether Apple can continue to sell the affected models until it has exhausted the appeals process. That ruling could be made as soon as today. What we did learn this morning is that the redesign submitted by Apple to U.S. Customs merely consisted of Apple disabling the pulse oximeter which led Masimo to issue this statement earlier today (via 9to5Mac):

"On Friday, January 12, the Exclusion Order Enforcement Branch (EOE) of U.S. Customs and Border Protection decided that Apple’s redesign falls outside the scope of the remedial orders in the ITC Investigation underlying Apple’s appeal.

The pulse oximeter on the Apple Watch

In Apple’s request under 19 C.F.R. Part 177 (in a portion it did not identify as confidential), Apple explained 'that its Redesigned Watch Products definitively (i) do not contain pulse oximetry functionality…' Because Apple has maintained that certain information in the EOE proceeding is confidential, Masimo does not provide a copy of the decision with this letter. Currently, no public version of the decision exists."

Apple can continue to sell the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 until the appeals court makes its ruling which, as we already noted, could come today. If the court rules that the Exclusion Order remains on hold until Apple has completed the appeals process, you will see no change to how things stand at the moment and the affected timepieces will still be available in the U.S.

Should the appeals court rule that the Exclusion Order remains in place while Apple continues to appeal the original ruling, the tech giant will have to sell new units without the pulse oximeter feature or license the patent from Masimo. It should be noted that those who already own Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Ultra Watch 2 units will be able to use the pulse oximeter on their watches. If Apple does disable the feature, it will only affect newly purchased units.

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