Apple resumes Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 sales after US ban halted

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple has resumed the sale of Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 at some of its retail stores in the US, after an appeals court paused the ban on the devices amid an ongoing patent dispute case.

A wider availability of the devices is expected at Apple stores by the weekend and online sales will resume on Thursday (US time), reports The Verge.

The appeals court said that Apple could continue selling its watches temporarily.

“We are pleased the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has stayed the exclusion order while it considers our request to stay the order pending our full appeal,” an Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.

Apple had filed an appeal to the International Trade Commission’s (ITC) decision to ban sales of Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 models in the US.

In a court filing, Apple said that the company "will suffer irreparable harm" if the latest Watches remain off the shelves during legal proceedings.

Apple pulled its latest flagship smartwatches due to an import ban imposed by the US ITC over a patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo.

The long-running patent dispute between Apple and Masimo is around the Watch’s blood oxygen sensor (SpO2 sensor) technology.

The ITC ruled in October that the blood oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 infringes on two Masimo patents.