U.S. court bars Apple Watch imports while Apple appeals ITC ban

The Blood Oxygen sensor on the back crystal of Apple Watch
A U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Apple Watch models capable of reading blood-oxygen levels cannot be imported into the U.S. while Apple appeals a government decision that the devices infringe patents.
Reuters:
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The patents in question belong to medical technology company Masimo. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit means the affected watches cannot be imported while Apple appeals the U.S. International Trade Commission’s ban.
Separately, U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Jan. 12 determined that a proposed redesign from Apple would allow it to import reconfigured versions of its latest Series 9 and Ultra 2 Apple Watches without violating the ITC’s restrictions, court filings show.
Apple asked the Washington-based Federal Circuit to keep the ban on hold for the duration of the appeals process, which is likely to take months. It argued that it was likely to win its appeal and that keeping the ban in effect would harm the company, its suppliers and the public.
The commission countered that Apple’s arguments “amount to little more” than a patent infringer “requesting permission to continue infringing.”

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MacDailyNews Take: What never should’ve gotten anywhere close to this point continues rolling along like a driverless clown car.
As we wrote last month:
Apple does, of course, need to rectify a situation that competent management would already have addressed well prior to any sales ban, as soon as possible.
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