The White House declined to veto a government ban on the imports of the latest version of the Apple Watch, limiting the product’s availability.
The U.S. International Trade Commission’s order to restrict the import of the Apple Watch 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 goes into effect on Tuesday. Katherine Tai, a U.S. trade representative, also decided not to reverse the ban after consultations, according to Reuters. This will leave Apple unable to bring in additional models of the devices, and it limits the company’s ability to sell new watches in the United States.
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Apple’s next option will be to appeal the import ban in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. The ITC declined Apple’s request to pause the ban during the appeal process.
Apple announced last week that it was pausing the sales of the Series 9 and the Ultra 2 in anticipation of the ITC ban. The product was initially banned due to a patent dispute between Apple and the medical technology company Masimo over Apple’s implementation of a blood oxygen tracker into the device. The commission ruled in favor of Masimo, leading to the ban.
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The current patents only apply to blood oxygen trackers in Series 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Apple Watches and the Ultra models. The Apple Watch SE, which does not have the tracker, will still be available.
Users who bring Apple Watches into Apple Stores will be unable to get them replaced or repaired, according to an internal memo.
