No last-minute reprieve, US ban on some Apple Watch sales now in effect

Enlarge / The Apple Watch Ultra 2. (credit: Apple)

Apple is banned from selling the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the US after President Joe Biden’s administration refused to grant a reprieve from a trade tribunal’s decision that it had infringed another company’s patents.

Apple confirmed on Tuesday it had appealed against the earlier ruling from the US International Trade Commission, which stems from a patent dispute with health technology company Masimo.

Biden’s administration had 60 days from the ITC decision, which was handed down in October, to decide whether to allow it to take effect. The authority to decide whether to intervene was delegated by the White House to the US trade representative, Katherine Tai.