In Washington, following a ruling by the U.S. Appeals Court, a temporary ban on the sale of Apple smartwatches has been lifted. The ban initially came into place because of a patent dispute between Apple and another company over the technology for sensing blood oxygen levels.

Apple lodged an urgent appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, seeking to overturn the earlier decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission . The ITC had ruled in favour of the medical technology company Masimo, based in California, in a patent violation case.

Experts in the field speculate that the final verdict could potentially cost Apple a significant sum, likely amounting to millions of dollars. This could lead to Apple having to settle the dispute or to seek some form of technical resolution to the issue.

The fallout from this ruling saw the share prices of Masimo dropping approximately 4 percent. Apple's shares, on the other hand, were largely unaffected by the news, remaining stable throughout this period.

On December 18, Apple had released a statement making it clear that they would be discontinuing the sale of their Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. These products were to be discontinued in their physical stores as well as on their online platform.