Apple warned it will sustain “irreparable harm” as a result of the White House’s approval of a restriction on imports for a few of its watches in response to a disagreement about the blood oxygen technology involved. The electronics behemoth is requesting in an emergency move that a judge grant it permission to continue selling the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches, two of its best-selling models, while it pursues a patent battle with Masimo, a provider of medical monitoring equipment.It asked for the prohibition to be temporarily lifted, at least until US Customs determines whether the updated watches violate Masimo’s patents. The customs agency has until January 12th to make a decision. Masimo has charged Apple with stealing their blood oxygen level monitoring technology, or pulse oximetry, and incorporating it into its
Apple already stopped selling the watches before the Christmas period, a move that will likely cost the company $300-400m in holiday sales, according to wealth management analyst Dan Ives.
But the multinational is predicted to generate nearly $120bn (£104bn) in sales this quarter – including the holiday period, despite the setback.
