Apple could avoid US Apple Watch ban with software update

AppleInsider

While Apple waits for President Biden's administration to make a decision about the ITC's Apple Watch ban, the company is working on a software update that may help avoid stopping sales for now.

A software update could prevent an Apple Watch ban

Masimo began a lawsuit against Apple in 2020 alleging the Apple Watch pulse oximeter violated multiple patents held by the company. The case was presented to the US International Trade Commission in 2021 and resulted in a recommendation for an import ban.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on multiple fronts to avoid a ban, one of which involves a last-minute software update to circumvent the patents in question. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 will no longer be available from Apple's online store on December 21, followed by a complete cease of sales on December 25, unless the Biden administration vetos the ITC's decision before then.

Masimo argues that the patent violations could only be resolved with hardware alterations in a future Apple Watch model. Existing Apple Watch Series 6 and later models would need to be removed from sale, minus the Apple Watch SE.

However, Apple believes a software update could satisfy US Customs. The report calls it a "high-stakes engineering effort unlike any Apple has undertaken before."

Apple will have to move quickly to stop its flagship wearables from being removed from the US market. The critical portion of the holiday shopping season is over, so impacts from the ban won't be visible until fiscal Q2 earnings.

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Anilu_777

Well I guess I’m not updating my watch. It shouldn’t affect me in Canada as the case is in the US. I hope Apple makes it a US only update. 

jayweiss

The US Patent system is totally screwed up and needs to be reformed. The ITC should have waited on the decisions by the courts and not gotten involved in this dispute. 

badmonk

Anilu_777 said:

Well I guess I’m not updating my watch. It shouldn’t affect me in Canada as the case is in the US. I hope Apple makes it a US only update. 

Agree, no software updates for my AW Ultra.

nubus

jayweiss said:

The US Patent system is totally screwed up and needs to be reformed. The ITC should have waited on the decisions by the courts and not gotten involved in this dispute. 

Patents are what makes companies invest in innovation. It seems Apple talked to Masimo, poached their talent, copied patented work, and made the patent violating tech part of Apple Watch. That is a violation of everything Apple should stand for. The broken part is that it took 10 years to stop Apple. Most companies wouldn't be able to afford this.
Apple should have partnered wth Masimo or developed unique technology.

charlesn

A software update would be a disaster. Consider the choices: 1) Disable blood oxygen sensing on new models of Apple Watch sold after TBD date, in which case newly purchased watches are less capable than identical models previously sold. (How would Apple even do this? An update that only affected certain serial numbers?) 2) Disable blood oxygen sensors on all models of Apple Watch ever sold with this feature. Then Apple would have millions of watch owners refusing to update the software, in addition to being pissed off about the whole situation. What both these options have in common is this: unhappy Watch owners, and creating unhappiness among customers where none currently exists is a bad strategy for any company. 

The path of least resistance and probably least expense for Apple will be to pay off Masimo through 2028 when the patent expires. While I don't know all of the insider details of this case, what I've read leads me to believe that Apple is at fault here. When Goliath goes into a David-sized company that has technology it desires, then refuses to even discuss licensing said technology while poaching all the top talent from the small company, it's a really bad look. 

JuliannaVanderbilt

I don’t know what all the hullabaloo is about. Why is the
ALLEGEDY-pirated blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch Ultra causing such a global conflagration? 

This isn’t the point of my comment but I’ll say it anyway: frankly I don’t believe that Apple did this and those that are asserting that Apple did are just parroting what they READ. Why would Apple need to infringe on another company’s patent when Apple has always been the world leader in technological innovations? Apple didn’t become the most profitable company in the world by stealing tech from other companies.

The Apple Watch Ultra is a stellar work of technology with so many features that I can get along without the blood oxygen sensor. If I really needed one I would just buy an oximeter. I’ll take an Apple Watch update that removes my blood oxygen sensor and enjoy the hundreds of other features. Foaming at the mouth over this with all that’s going on in the Unholy Land and Ukraine is absurd.  

JuliannaVanderbilt

Hey, Julianna, stop foaming at the mouth.

godofbiscuitssf

jayweiss said:

The US Patent system is totally screwed up and needs to be reformed. The ITC should have waited on the decisions by the courts and not gotten involved in this dispute. 

Yeah, but not in the way you’re saying. The exact opposite way, in fact. The US Patent System was created to protect SMALL businesses from the predatory actions of large companies, but it’s been perverted by the enormous resourcing of those large companies to steamroll over the small ones. 

ITC stepped in to limit the damage due to the slow court system.  

ronn

This is ridiculous. There should be a veto and after all appeals are exhausted Apple should pay a steep price if they're still found to be infringing Maximo's IP. An import ban at this point would cause unnecessary harm for consumers.

mknelson

Anilu_777 said:

Well I guess I’m not updating my watch. It shouldn’t affect me in Canada as the case is in the US. I hope Apple makes it a US only update. 

That's a hyperbolic reaction. As long as the new algorithm* has the same results it shouldn't matter.

*My understanding is the algorithm cleans up the data from the sensor to remove noise from the wearer moving around, plus crosstalk from other sensors.

avon b7

JuliannaVanderbilt said:

I don’t know what all the hullabaloo is about. Why is the
ALLEGEDY-pirated blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch Ultra causing such a global conflagration? 

This isn’t the point of my comment but I’ll say it anyway: frankly I don’t believe that Apple did this and those that are asserting that Apple did are just parroting what they READ. Why would Apple need to infringe on another company’s patent when Apple has always been the world leader in technological innovations? Apple didn’t become the most profitable company in the world by stealing tech from other companies.

The Apple Watch Ultra is a stellar work of technology with so many features that I can get along without the blood oxygen sensor. If I really needed one I would just buy an oximeter. I’ll take an Apple Watch update that removes my blood oxygen sensor and enjoy the hundreds of other features. Foaming at the mouth over this with all that’s going on in the Unholy Land and Ukraine is absurd.  

This is patently untrue:

"Apple has always been the world leader in technological innovations" 

R&D at large companies often brings a lower return on investment than R&D from smaller companies which have a razor sharp focus on one or two things.

This is why so many smaller companies simply vanish. They are either unable to find financing or are often snapped up by the big fish. 

The problem is so big now that many startups only get going because they have the idea of selling up quick to the bigger fish in the pool. 

This distorts the market and keeps the big fish nice and plump. 

I don't know how this particular case will play out. Nor do I know if things are as clear cut as some commenters would have us believe (both for and against) but I'm glad it's going to the wire. 

AppleZulu

badmonk said:

Anilu_777 said:

Well I guess I’m not updating my watch. It shouldn’t affect me in Canada as the case is in the US. I hope Apple makes it a US only update. 

Agree, no software updates for my AW Ultra.

Unless mandated by law, Apple Watch updates for this issue are unlikely to affect existing, already purchased devices, and certainly not outside the US. 

BlueLightning

I've always had so-so luck with finger tip oxygen sensors.  If Apple has been working on a new software method, maybe they can get better results than the patented method, which Masimo would have specifically defined in the decades old patent application.  There are almost always multiple ways to approach a problem.  Others state that there is only 5 years left on the patent.  Alternatively, Apple could sue Masimo if it is infringing patents Apple holds, opt to pay Masimo a license fee, or attempt a hostile take over of Masimo.  Maybe claim the patent is too broad or otherwise invalid, and claim damages (resulting in high legal expenses for Masimo, and possible bankruptcy for Masimo)?  If Masimo is infringing on Apple patents with any of Masimo's products, Apple could demand license payments or those products could be banned in the US, or other countries. Sometimes cross-licensing agreements for little or no cost are the ultimate agreement.   

Very few folks actually read license agreements.  Most long license agreements for operating systems and some other software state that user agrees not to use software for life critical uses and may specify it should not be used to control airplanes, nuclear reactors, medical equipment or any situation that could result in death if the software malfunctions.  Some also state that the maximum you can recover for a failure of the software is the amount you paid for the license (zero, if it was free).  Lawyers on both sides should make a mint on related legal action, if either or both firms want to seriously fight from all angles.  I suspect Masimo has a much smaller legal budget than Apple, Microsoft or IBM (and many others in the computer industry).  Microsoft, in the past, has fought infringement cases long enough to bankrupt the firms making the claim of infringement.  Apple, Microsoft and IBM all have huge numbers of patents.  So they often meet an infringement claim with multiple counter claims.  

riverko

Honestly, if Apple disabled the blood oxygen sensor via software update, how many users would really notice? Apart from playing with it after i got my watch, i never use it… yes, it may limit some features, where it is used on backgroung. but is it really the crucial reason people buy it? The watch will not stop working completely. And if they find a way how to settle it - be it paying the license fees or prove they don’t infringe anything - they will simply put it back…