Finance Associated Press, December 20 (edited by Zhao Hao).On Tuesday (December 19) local time, Joe Kiani, the CEO of Masimo, a medical technology company that has embroiled Apple in a patent dispute, said he was open to a potential settlement.
In October, the U.S. International Commission (ITC) ruled that the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 infringed Masimo's pulse oximeter patent. Before the import ban goes into effect, Biden's 60-day time review period will expire on December 25.
On Monday, Apple announced that it would suspend sales of two watches on Apple's website in the U.S. starting Dec. 21, while about 270 retail stores in the U.S. will suspend sales from Dec. 24, a move it says is a "preventive" measure to comply with the ITC's decision.When asked if he would reconcile with Apple, Kiani said: "The short answer, yes. But he declined to say how much money he wanted to seek from Apple. He added that he could even work with Apple to improve their products.
But Kiyani pointed out that Apple has not offered to cooperate, using the common saying "it takes two to tango." This statement also corroborates the statement revealed on Tuesday by Mark Gurman, a well-known Apple whistleblower, that "the two companies do not seem to have contact in this regard," and that Apple itself is generally reluctant to take this approach. Although the ban does not affect the sales of Apple Watch at third-party retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, the inability of Apple's direct sales channels to launch these products is still a clear blow to the company. Kiani describes apples as "being found while their hands are in the snack jar", i.e. being embarrassed to be caught doing something bad.
The medical industry veteran said he last spoke to Apple in 2013, when Apple tried to buy Masimo and hire him to help achieve the company's technology goals, but the acquisition eventually fell through, and instead began poaching more than 20 Masimo engineers to help develop the technology.
"Apple could have been an example of how to do things right and get things done, we could have worked with them, and they shouldn't have stolen our employees," Kiani said. He therefore pointed out that if Apple wants to negotiate a settlement, it needs to have honest dialogue and make an apology.
Kiani also believes that Apple's decision to stop selling in the United States is a "trick" to pressure Biden to veto the import ban, "This is not an accidental infringement, it is a deliberate infringement of our intellectual property rights." I'm glad that the world now knows that we are the real inventors and creators of these technologies. ”
Yesterday, whistleblower Gurman revealed that Apple is "rescuing" two watches at the software level to resolve the ITC controversy. In response, Kiani dismissed this idea in an interview, "I don't think it can and shouldn't pass the review because our patents have nothing to do with software, they focus on hardware and software." ”
When asked if Apple could avoid the import ban, Kiani said that if the watches and their components were produced in the United States, there would be no question of an import ban. Since the ITC's ruling, Nasdaq-listed Masimo's share price has moved significantly higher, trading at 115 as of Tuesday**$87, more than 50% from the low in October**.