We're sure many of you expected to learn on Christmas Day that President Joe Biden had asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to block the International Trade Commission's exclusion order ( ITC) which forced Apple to withdraw all Apple Watch
Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra. 2 units in physical and online Apple Stores in the
United States. If you've been Rip Van Winkling over the past couple of weeks, after ruling that the pulse oximeters in the aforementioned watches infringe Masimo's patents, the ITC has issued an import ban against those specific models. .
As it turns out, yesterday Apple got a reprieve from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The latter ordered that the ITC's exclusion order be suspended until January 10, when the ITC must respond to Apple's request for a longer-term pause on the exclusion order. the ITC. On January 12, Apple will ask the U.S. Customs Department whether its proposed software changes to affected Apple Watch models are sufficient to overturn the import ban.
Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani is a close friend of President Biden.
An interesting story published today in
The New York Post notes that Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani is a wealthy donor not only to the Democratic Party but also to the Biden Foundation. According to a 2019 AP report, Biden spoke at an event with Kiani in the audience. During a speech, Biden called Kiani and called him “one of my closest friends.” FEC records published by the Post show Kiani donated nearly $8 million to certain causes, including $1,080,000 to the Biden Victory Fund.
Photo of Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani posted on the White House website
In 2021, Biden appointed Kiani to the President's Council of Science and Technology Advisors. The advisory group is responsible for making science, technology and innovation policy recommendations to the president and the White House.
We are not accusing the President of failing to save Apple from the ITC's exclusion order because of his friendship with Masimo's founder and top executive. But perhaps the White House should have issued a statement and stopped the president from deciding whether he would veto the import ban. Otherwise it comes out this way in the media and it looks bad.
A Masimo spokesperson said Kiani never pressured the president or Tai and instead turned the tables by accusing Apple CEO Tim Cook of lobbying on Apple's behalf. Masimo's spokesperson said: “This dispute has never been about money for Masimo. The company's motivation has always been and remains to hold Apple accountable for infringing Masimo's patents and to restore market integrity.”
Apple has started selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 again in its stores and online
Apple has now started selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra2 in the US Apple Online Store. Select physical Apple Stores in the US now have these models in stock and the affected watches are expected to return to all US locations by Saturday.
If you live in the United States and are considering purchasing an Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra2, you have until January 9 to make this purchase. However, if Apple can continue to withhold the ban until it has exhausted all of its legal options, it could be weeks or months before Apple has to remove the devices from its US Apple Stores again online and physical.
What happens after January will depend on the courts, US customs and the inventory of these Apple Watch models remaining in third-party stores such as Target, Walmart and Best Buy.
