Apple has big dates coming as it seeks to permanently quash ITC’s Apple Watch exclusion order

Apple was able to convince the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to temporarily suspend the exclusion order issued by the International Trade Commission (ITC) on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. But this hardly means Apple is out of the woods. After a brief hiatus, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is back with his weekly newsletter “Power On” and he laid out a timeline of what we should expect from Apple, Masimo, the ITC, and the legal system.

Next Friday, January 12, the US customs agency will have to decide whether a software patch submitted by Apple is sufficient to prevent the Apple Watch pulse oximeter from infringing patents held by Masimo. And on January 15, a week from next Monday, Apple will participate in a hearing held by the Court of Appeal. Apple will argue that the import ban should be overturned permanently

Gurman expects Apple to resolve this patent issue with Masimo by the end of the month, or by having customs agree that the software patch submitted by Apple prevents it from infringing on Masimo's patents. The problem with this scenario is that everything points to Apple infringing on a Masimo hardware patent for the pulse oximeter. However, it is possible that a software revision could help Apple circumvent the hardware patent.