US Ban Looms for Apple Watch Unless President Biden Takes Action

The Apple Watch might be banned from sale or importation into the United States as early as next week. Unless President Biden's administration is able to block the scheme.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) of the United States ruled in December that the Apple Watch infringes on patents owned by AliveCor, a medical equipment company. The patents cover ECG technology seen in the most recent Apple products. If the ban goes into effect, shops across the country won't be able to sell wearables like the Apple Watch Series 8. Nonetheless, the Biden administration has the authority to end the ban entirely.

Patent controversies

At the heart of the patented technology is the iPhone's ability to take electrocardiograms, which can be used to find heart problems early on. But it may not be enough to prevent it from being illegal. Apple's almost limitless lobbying might be the determining factor. 

Apple, as a firm, has limitless resources. According to Priya Abani, CEO of AliveCor, in an interview with The Hill, "they're going for everyone they can get" (opens in a new tab). "We're just getting started," as the saying goes. Apple recruited "Shara Aranoff, a lobbyist at Covington & Burling who chaired the ITC under the Obama administration," to keep the Apple Watch on the market. President Biden must decide whether to reject the ITC's decision and keep the matter from going to court by Monday.  If he didn't like it, he could just reject it and absolve Apple.

According to the story in The Hill, AliveCor claims to have a great working relationship with Apple. That is until the Apple Watch was upgraded in 2018 to add an electrocardiogram. As a result, AliveCor was forced to discontinue its own product.

"We come up with new technologies, and instead of the ecosystem allowing us to thrive and continue to build on top of the innovations we've already made, Apple cuts us out up front, steals our technology, uses their platform power to scale it, and now is basically saying it's scaled so it can't be cut off," Abani told The Hill.

The next action by the White House will be extensively scrutinized.