Apple has requested an urgent court motion to allow them to resume selling two of their top-selling watches while awaiting a final ruling on their appeal in a heated patent dispute.

The company cut off sales right before the Christmas holiday and in a motion filed Tuesday, Apple said it would suffer “irreparable harm” if previous court orders remain for the two weeks that it said the U.S. International Trade Commission will take to respond to its appeal.

According to Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, Apple is expected to lose approximately $300-400 million in sales during the holiday season due to disruptions. However, this loss is relatively small for Apple, as they are projected to make $120 billion in sales during this quarter, including the holiday shopping period.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) concluded on October 26 that Apple had violated two patents held by Masimo Corp. and Cercacor Laboratories, both American companies. The ITC’s ruling was made official on Tuesday after a 60-day evaluation period, however, Apple had already discontinued selling the watches in stores and online.

On Tuesday, Katherine Tai, the United States Trade Representative, chose not to challenge the decision made by the ITC.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office announced that Ambassador Tai has chosen not to overturn the ITC’s ruling, which means that the ITC’s decision will officially take effect on Tuesday.

The tech giant from Cupertino, California has ceased online sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 internet-connected watch in the U.S. This came after the ITC denied Apple’s attempt to find a way around an order from late October that prohibited the company from using certain technology for the blood oxygen measurement feature on the watches.

Apple Watches that were purchased before the ITC order and have blood oxygen measurement capability are not impacted by the order.

Apple argues that the ITC’s ruling is flawed due to several factual inaccuracies and that Masimo does not significantly sell a competing product in the United States, therefore it would not be negatively affected if the decision is delayed.

Apple Inc. stocks have experienced a slight decrease on a day when the technology industry is performing particularly well in Tuesday’s trading.

Source: wral.com