Apple Watch might soon face international import ban

But things took a drastic turn when in 2018, Apple introduced built-in heart rate monitoring sensors on the Apple Watch and blocked third-party apps like AliveCor from accessing the data from the sensor.

However, the import ban appeal process is expected to conclude sometime next year, keeping in mind that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board appeals take somewhere between 12 to 18 months. This means that the Apple Watch will not immediately face an import ban.

According to a recent report by The Hill, AliveCor is ready to settle with Apple and license its heart monitoring technology to the tech giant but the tech giant hasn’t shown any interest in a settlement. The California-based startup AliveCor also claimed that Apple blocked competition and cut off AliveCor users from accessing heart monitoring data with a single update.

Last month, an ITC judge ruled out that Apple indeed infringed on pulse oximeter sensors which were patented by a medical tech company called Masimo. The case is expected to go before the commission sometime this year and might result in another import ban on Apple Watch models which use the technology.