Why Apple is set to pull some Apple Watches from US shelves

(NEXSTAR) — As early as this week, you won’t be able to find some Apple Watches on store shelves or online.

Apple confirmed to Nexstar on Monday that they will be pausing the sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 on their website starting Thursday. Apple’s retail locations will no longer be selling the watches after Christmas Eve.

This comes as Apple faces a legal dispute over the technology the smartwatches use to run the blood oxygen feature on the devices.

Masimo sued Apple in federal court in 2020 and accused the tech giant of poaching employees and stealing trade secrets related to its light-based technology for measuring blood-oxygen levels, as The Hill previously reported. The company sued Apple again in 2021 after the release of the Apple Watch Series 6, which was the first model to have the blood oxygen feature.

Apple then sued Masimo last year, alleging the company copied their technology.

The 2020 case ended in a mistrial, but an International Trade Commission (ITC) judge ruled in Masimo’s favor in the 2021 case earlier this year. An order in October from the ITC could lead to an import ban on Apple Watches.

It’s now up to the Biden administration to determine whether to veto that import ban or allow it to take effect on Dec. 26. Apple also has the opportunity to appeal the ITC’s decision, and previously said it intended to do so, Reuters reports.

“A Presidential Review Period is in progress regarding an order from the U.S. International Trade Commission on a technical intellectual property dispute pertaining to Apple Watch devices containing the Blood Oxygen feature,” Apple said in a statement to Nexstar. “While the review period will not end until December 25, Apple is preemptively taking steps to comply should the ruling stand.”

The company added that it “strongly disagrees with the order and is pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers.”

“Should the order stand, Apple will continue to take all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.”

Apple has faced potential ITC bans before. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama’s administration struck down an import ban on iPhones and iPads when the company was in a patent dispute with Samsung. The Biden administration declined to veto an import ban enacted earlier this year when the ITC ruled Apple infringed on a wearable heart monitoring technology patented by California startup AliveCor. That ban was, however, placed on hold.

As it currently stands, only the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models are affected. The Apple Watch SE will still be available, according to the company, and other models that include the blood oxygen feature (including already purchased Series 9 and Ultra 2 models) are not impacted.

The Hill’s Julia Shapero contributed to this report.