A ban on the sale of Apple Watch has been lately introduced by the corporate as some designs are believed to have violated patent violations. Although Apple is anticipated to cease gross sales of its smartwatches beginning on the finish of the month, a brand new report signifies {that a} software program replace may help the corporate function within the US market once more. Sadly, Masimo, the corporate that helped result in the gross sales ban by claiming its patents had been infringed, poses one other downside in Apple’s approach.
Masimo argues that the ban on the sale of Apple Watch can solely be prevented with {hardware} modifications; a software program glitch will not repair the issue
An replace to the Apple Watch software program is presently in improvement and will assist keep away from the gross sales ban, in line with Bloomberg. President Biden’s administration will in the end determine on the ban, giving the tech big some respiration room to assist its engineers obtain the corporate’s aim. Apple believes this software program replace will be capable of meet US customized necessities, however the Cupertino firm believes the transfer constitutes a high-stakes engineering effort that has by no means been tried earlier than.
Whereas Apple intends to do every thing doable to make sure that gross sales don’t cease in the USA, Masimo has different plans, believing that patent violations can solely be resolved with {hardware} modifications on a future mannequin of Apple Watch, which suggests {that a} software program replace won’t be obtainable. sufficient to finish the ban. Masimo filed a lawsuit in 2020, stating that the Apple Watch pulse oximeter infringed a number of patents owned by the corporate. The case was then introduced to the U.S. Worldwide Commerce Fee in 2021, leading to a advice to ban imports.
Assuming Apple can not circumvent these Masimo patent violations, it must ban gross sales in the USA and work on a successive Apple Watch mannequin with {hardware} that doesn’t infringe any Masimo patents. It must be an fascinating few weeks as we head into 2024, and we’ll present well timed updates as they go, so keep tuned.
Information Supply: Bloomberg