Apple’s Hail Mary

• A US regulator has ruled that the newest Apple Watches infringe on another company’s patents.
• Apple now faces having to pull the Series 9 and Ultra 2 models from its store shelves.
• Days ahead of the ban, Apple’s engineers are reportedly working furiously on a potential workaround.

Apple is scrambling.

The company is hoping that a last-minute Hail Mary play could keep it from having to yank its latest Apple Watches from store shelves in the US.

Apple faces the looming ban after a US regulator ruled that its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches infringe on the patents of a separate California-based company’s patents related to a health-monitoring sensor included in the newest models.

But with the ban currently set to go into effect on Christmas Day, Apple’s engineers are trying to make software modifications to the devices in an attempt to placate the regulator that made the ruling, the International Trade Commission, Bloomberg reported.

There’s no guarantee Apple’s last-minute efforts will be successful. While Apple could potentially change its software to accommodate the ITC’s decision, the health company with the patents in question, Masimo, has argued that Apple needs to change the physical hardware in the watches to comply with the ruling.

Apple could go back to the drawing board and remove the hardware in question from its Apple Watch models, but such re-tooling of its supply-chain would reportedly take months and still require the company to pull the current versions from its online and physical stores.

If Apple’s Hail Mary play doesn’t pan out, there are two other ways the company could theoretically keep the watches on store shelves.

The first is a White-House intervention. The ITC upheld two of Masimo’s patents in October and gave the White House two months to review the case — and President Biden could veto the regulator’s ruling. A spokesperson for the Office of the US Trade Representative told Business Insider in a statement that the “review has been delegated to the Office of the US Trade Representative and Ambassador Tai is carefully considering all factors in this case.”

The second path would require Apple to pay Masimo to settle the dispute — Masimo CEO Joe Kiani said in a Tuesday interview with Bloomberg that Apple “hasn’t called” but that he was open to a settlement that came with an apology. “It takes two to tango,” he added.

Apple, Masimo, and the White House didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment ahead of publication.

While the Apple Watch SE will not be impacted by the patent ruling and will remain for sale in Apple Stores, Apple stands to lose out big if it can’t figure out a solution fast.

Apple Watch sales bring in billions in revenue, and are part of the company’s wearables business, which Apple has said is the equivalent of a Fortune 500 company on its own.

The feature at the heart of the patent dispute is the one that tracked an Apple Watch user’s blood-oxygen levels by emitting light through the wearer’s skin. If forced to remove the related sensor, the product itself will likely be less compelling, as one of the major selling points for the Apple Watch is its health-tracking features. While other health-tracking features would remain, shrinking that feature suite is never the goal.

Those with their hearts set on an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra Pro in their stocking this year should still be able to find one, even if the ban goes into effect. According to the ITC’s ruling, the watches will still be able to be sold by third-party vendors, which means stores like Best Buy and Walmart can keep selling their remaining inventory.

Meanwhile, Apple is preparing for the worst. According to Bloomberg, Apple’s retail stores around the US are getting new signs that advertise the watch without mentioning the impacted Series 9 or Ultra 2 models.