‘Weak’ Bid to Pause Apple Watch Import Ban Should Fail, ITC Says

The US International Trade Commission urged an appeals court to reject Apple Inc.'s “weak and unconvincing” arguments supporting a bid to block the trade agency’s enforcement of a ban on certain Apple Watch imports for the duration of Apple’s appeal, according to a court filing.

The tech giant’s “arguments amount to little more than an indisputably adjudicated infringer requesting permission to continue infringing the asserted patents,” the ITC said in its opposition to Apple’s motion for a stay, filed Wednesday in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Apple failed to demonstrate “the two most important factors in granting a stay—likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable harm,” the ITC said.

There was “no legal error” in the commission’s late-October decision and Apple’s motion “essentially and improperly asks the court to reweigh the evidence,” supporting the ITC’s factual findings, according to the filing.

The harm Apple contended it would suffer without such a stay “is not unquantifiable, but rather speculative,” the commission said.

The ITC also said Apple’s arguments relying on US Customs and Border Protection’s pending decision on whether certain redesigned Apple Watches infringe Masimo Corp.'s patents “are, at best, misplaced.” Should the CBP grant Apple’s request to sell its redesigned devices, then the company’s argument for its “reputational and goodwill harm would largely dissolve,” the ITC said in its filing.

Apple on Dec. 27 resumed sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 after winning a temporary reprieve from the Federal Circuit, two months after the ITC ruled the smartwatches infringed patents held by medical-device maker Masimo, and one day after the devices’ US sales were halted.

The ITC last week unsealed its Dec. 20 opinion denying Apple’s request in that venue for the stay pending appeal.

The Federal Circuit’s interim stay remains intact until the appeals court issues its decision on whether to block enforcement for the duration of the appeal—the same request rejected by the ITC in its unsealed opinion.

Winning the brief stay fulfilled one part of Apple’s multi-pronged approach to recover from the ITC’s decision. Apple’s plans for a comprehensive solution to the patent fight also include redeveloped software that could allow it to sell noninfringing versions of the devices as soon as Jan. 12, when the CBP is scheduled to rule on the request.

Masimo, an intervenor in Apple’s appeal of the ITC’s orders, is expected to file its opposition to Apple’s stay request by Wednesday.

The case is Apple Inc. v. ITC, Fed. Cir., No. 24-1285, ITC’s opposition to Apple’s motion for stay filed 1/10/24.