The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) threatens to ban the sale of Apple Watch in the United States by ruling that the multinational has violated a patent for its electrocardiogram sensor. Apple expected a veto from President Joe Biden… which was just overruled.
Therefore, the decision to ban the sale of Apple Watch on US soil is on track to stick. Since last December, the apple firm has sought the veto of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, to block a ruling that threatened it with no longer being able to market several of its connected watches in the country. However, on Tuesday, February 14, the US government refused to save Apple, reports the US media. The hill.
Therefore, Apple should stop selling the last six models of its Apple Watch (SE models not included). However, the company has not said its last word.
An illegal EKG sensor
To understand this case, let’s go back. In December 2022, thunder in Cupertino: the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) rules that Apple has infringed the patents of a Californian startup, AliveCor, to develop the electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor of its connected watches. A sensor present in the Apple Watch Series 4, specifies the specialized medium Ars Technica.
Apple and AliveCor began working on a partnership as early as 2015, with the small company planning to release medical accessories compatible with the tech giant’s upcoming watch. However, when the Series 4 was released in 2018, the model also blocked the use of third-party ECG technologies… forcing AliveCor to stop selling its product and accuse Apple of infringing its patents.
Relive the match against Samsung
However, the ITC judgment of December 2022 is only a recommendation. It is addressed to the US government, which has the option to apply it or not. but how do you remember The hillthe federal state tends to respect the decision of this International Trade Commission, which is bipartisan and independent… except in 2013. In an unprecedented way, US President Barack Obama had blocked an ITC ruling in which Apple was found guilty , already, infringement of the patents of the South Korean manufacturer Samsung for its iPhone and iPad.
Apple tried to repeat the game, even hired former ITC president to lobby US government, says The hill. Nothing worked: the Joe Biden government refused to veto it.
An unlikely sales ban
Will the Apple Watch Series 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Ultra be withdrawn from sales in the United States? We can doubt it. First, because the Cupertino company intends to appeal the sentence of the American Trade Commission, reports the American media. the edge. But above all, because another judicial sentence initiated determined that the patents on which AliveCor bases its accusations are not valid. Therefore, the Californian startup is appealing this decision.
The ban on the sale of Apple’s connected watches is therefore pending these two sentences that, according to The hillmust not leave the ground before September 2024.
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