Are Apple Watches The Next Thing To Be Banned?

Just about everywhere you turn something is being banned. You only need to look at New York State and the long list of things that have been or are going to be banned to see the impact of how things are changing in the United States.

It seems like government officials from almost every level in the country have an opinion of the things that we all use that should no longer be available to people. Now, based on a recent decision by the Biden Administration, it looks like a very popular piece of electronics is going to get banned.

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According to reporting by The Hill, Federal officials from the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) have determined that the extremely popular Apple Watch should be banned in the United States.

In December 2022 the ITC ruled that Apple infringed on the copyright of a company named AliveCor in several versions of the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Series 4 thru 8 have technology inside of it that was claimed to be owned by AliveCor and in a legal proceeding won the ability to prevent the Apple Watch from being imported into the US. Representatives from Apple requested that President Biden issue a Veto to the ITC ruling which would allow Apple Watch imports to continue, but President Biden refused to do so.

The Commission has determined to issue a limited exclusion order prohibiting further importation of infringing products and a cease and desist order against Apple. The Commission has determined that the public interest factors do not counsel against issuing remedial orders.
-Katherine M. Hiner, United States International Trade Commission Acting Secretary

To complicate things, the Federal Patent Trial and Appeal Board also ruled in December that the patent AliveCor owns was potentially invalid. This confusion, along with several other reasons the pending ban on Apple Watches is on hold. The parties are set to fight it out in court, and Biden's refusal to issue a veto means that the pending legal battle is going to continue and will likely last for a while.

Based on the current pace of the legal activities, it's estimated that this battle will drag out for at least another 18 months. If this is the case, the device ban could be on hold until 2024 or later.

By the looks of things Apple Watches may be going away, so we should try to make the most of them for now.