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One patent is enough to ban Apple Watch imports and to call it patent infringement, so I don't quite see your point. Can Apple import Apple Watches and parts, no, 'nuff said. I hope Apple settles soon, but right now, that's the way it is, Apple loses some. I happen to think patents go to far too, but that really has no bearing on Selling Apple Watches in the U.S. right now. :(. Besides, I bet Apple makes money off patents too.

I am okay with waiting and seeing what else Apple has up their sleeve. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
 
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I guess the patent office has less information than you do.
🤣
I got the info from the patent office. Feb 9, 2021 and March 16, 2021.

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You have dates. If this is all it took then the judges wouldn’t have banned sales of the products.
The patents came into effect on those dates. The point is that Apple developed the watch with the infringing technology before those dates. After those dates, Apple was on the hook for infringement. Until those dates, the technology was fair game.
 
Sigh.....totally protecting the competition now....can't get your Ford Focus repaired because some loser with a "Patent" got the ITC to put up a useless ban.
I’m missing something here. What’s the thing that Ford can’t import or do, and why?
 
I just wonder, still iPhone bought in US has to be shipped to US for repair or someone can have a travel / ask someone in EU / Canada for repair? :)

Cheers from Poland in EU where we even don’t have official Apple Stores just certified resellers who sign for repair and then ship to Czech Republic
 
I just wonder, still iPhone bought in US has to be shipped to US for repair or someone can have a travel / ask someone in EU / Canada for repair? :)

Cheers from Poland in EU where we even don’t have official Apple Stores just certified resellers who sign for repair and then ship to Czech Republic


Pluses and minuses

On the flip side what’s the last great design Poland or the EU came up with?


Aside from some of the fiancés fancy clothes and some impractical cars of mine, really nothing is from Poland, or the rest of the EU

It does seem like the state is targeting Apple recently, same with spaceX/musk 🤔
 
Pluses and minuses

On the flip side what’s the last great design Poland or the EU came up with?


Aside from some of the fiancés fancy clothes and some impractical cars of mine, really nothing is from Poland, or the rest of the EU

It does seem like the state is targeting Apple recently, same with spaceX/musk 🤔
Not related to my question I guess :D
I just wonder about workarounds for people in current ban situation.
 
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Not related to my question I guess :D
I just wonder about workarounds for people in current ban situation.


I have a ultra, seems hardy, but yeah guess I’d just have to send it out for repair when work takes me out of the country, which is actually often

Not holding my breath, but hope Apple makes right by their customers with this
 
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Guess if it breaks I’ll have to ship it to buddies out of the US to ship back?
Similar thought. I have family that loves in Canada. I travel there every now and then. Would Apple Canada be able to, say for example, do the battery replacement for my Ultra when I need it?
 
I have a Series 7 on AC+, the 2 year period is up in mid February. My battery health has been dwindling, currently at 81%. Based on the rate of the health depletion, I assume it will be down to 79% before expiration of AC+.

The wording of the article is a bit ambiguous but, am I wrong to think that (if nothing changes by February) they will be able to swap out my watch for a replacement? Obviously, this depends on if they still have a Series 7 in my color to swap.
Apple offers month-to-month AppleCare that doesn't expire, sign up for that.
 
The patents came into effect on those dates. The point is that Apple developed the watch with the infringing technology before those dates. After those dates, Apple was on the hook for infringement. Until those dates, the technology was fair game.
Yes but go read the specifics of the patent. It doesn’t just deal with a fingertip.
 
Similar thought. I have family that loves in Canada. I travel there every now and then. Would Apple Canada be able to, say for example, do the battery replacement for my Ultra when I need it?
The warranty is an international one so yes. And outside warranty too. It's one advantage of buying from a big business like Apple that you can get your devices serviced all around the world, well, as long as you are in western-ish country that has an Apple presence at all.
 
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The warranty is an international one so yes. And outside warranty too. It's one advantage of buying from a big business like Apple that you can get your devices serviced all around the world, well, as long as you are in western-ish country that has an Apple presence at all.
Excellent. Then at least there’s a possible route for me if this whole ban thing lasts for a long time.

I don’t know. How this thing has unfolded seems like a major chess move f-up by Apple. It looks to me like they miscalculated….
 
Yes but go read the specifics of the patent. It doesn’t just deal with a fingertip.
True, but it doesn't explicitly anticipate a smart watch either. Masimo was trying to get new claims to cover the Apple Watch after the fact. So far they have had some success and some failure on this. We'll see how the appeal goes.
 
I’m missing something here. What’s the thing that Ford can’t import or do, and why?
It's a metaphor. Ford can still sell trucks already produced....if Chevy were to do the same thing to Ford. Apple can still sell watches and the ban only stops new watches from coming in, which becomes absolutely stupid because although Apple can't bring them into the USA, American customers can buy abroad and have it shipped...and we're playing a stupid import ban in the world's wealthiest nation....
 
Excellent. Then at least there’s a possible route for me if this whole ban thing lasts for a long time.

I don’t know. How this thing has unfolded seems like a major chess move f-up by Apple. It looks to me like they miscalculated….
I will repost this reply I saw on Ars Technica (which could have come from Macrumours, for all I know).
I have no doubt that Apple licenses IP all the time from companies big and small. The reason they didn’t license Masimo’s patents is most likely that they firmly believe the patents have no merit. I think they will continue to try and prove that.

In the meantime, and assuming the above is true, the way Apple is letting this play out puts Masimo in a quite perilous position. This could end up very costly, even ruinous, for Masimo.

If Apple succeeds, which I think they believe they will, in getting all of Masimo’s claims invalidated some time later in 2024, Masimo will face a potentially massive claim for lost revenue from Apple due to the ITC ban. Masimo’s CEO’s surprise and dismay at Apple’s announcement to stop selling the watches tells the story, in my opinion.


Maybe it will end up being one giant miscalculation by Apple, maybe it won't. That's US patent law for you, and I guess the takeaway is that it's still early days, many people seem all too eager to sound the death knell for Apple. But I have come to realise that Apple plays the long game better than any other tech company that I know, and if they decide not to settle with Masimo, I am going to assume Tim Cook knows what he is doing.
 
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I will repost this reply I saw on Ars Technica (which could have come from Macrumours, for all I know).



Maybe it will end up being one giant miscalculation by Apple, maybe it won't. That's US patent law for you, and I guess the takeaway is that it's still early days, many people seem all too eager to sound the death knell for Apple. But I have come to realise that Apple plays the long game better than any other tech company that I know, and if they decide not to settle with Masimo, I am going to assume Tim Cook knows what he is doing.
My bet is on Cook knowing what he is doing. Masimo's CEO is also its founder and he's emotionally tied up in this dispute, angry at Apple for not paying up. For Apple, it's just business and if they were bad at that then this forum wouldn't exist.
 
The fact that Apple has let things get this bad astounds me. They have the deepest pockets and the best lawyers. They should’ve just acquired Masimo like they intended to do at one point, or settled with them. Whatever those actions would have cost, it couldn’t have been more than the sums Apple will lose due to the sales ban, not to mention the perceptual hit to the brand and the concomitant hit to their stock price. Apple has had to pull one of its core product lines because of this mismanagement. I generally feel like Tim Cook knows what he’s doing, but this really feels … chaotic and inept.
Tim Cook has become a mean, greedy, evil man. I was already to the point of not wanting to be an Apple customer anymore. I am just sick them. Switched to the Pixel 8 this year after 10 years on an iPhone.

I feel the best Android phones have caught up, and are arguably better now, so it wasn't a hard switch to make.

Unfortunately, no one makes anything as good as macOS, or the MBP, so I will have to eat my words and stick with that for now, but I wait in hope that something as good comes along.

Tim has to be due to retire soonish, the only question with that, is will his replacement be better, or worse...
 
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