Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images
Masimo CEO Joe Kiani has spoken out about the clash between the health-tech company he leads and Apple, a feud that has led to a looming halt on the sale of some Apple Watches.
Apple announced on Monday it would stop selling two models of the Apple Watch after the International Trade Commission ruled their use of blood oxygen sensing violated patents owned by Masimo. The decision included a proposed ban on imports of the watches starting December 25. Apple said it would pull the models from shelves by December 24.
On Tuesday, Kiani told Bloomberg TV that in 2013 he spoke to Apple because the iPhone company was considering acquiring his company or hiring him.
"These guys have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar," he said.
"This is not an accidental infringement — this is a deliberate taking of our intellectual property," he continued, accusing Apple of hiring more than 20 engineers from his company. "I am glad the world can now see we are the true inventors and creators of these technologies."
Kiani added that Masimo was open to settling with Apple, but that the tech giant has so far not come to the table.
"They haven't called," he told the outlet. "It takes two to tango."
In a statement provided to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Masimo said: "After a thorough multi-year legal investigation, the ITC found that Apple infringed certain of Masimo's patented innovations for measuring blood oxygen. The decision to exclude certain foreign-made models of the Apple Watch demonstrates that even the world's most powerful company must abide by the law."
Apple however has said it will try to fight the ITC ruling.
"Apple strongly disagrees with the order and is pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers," a representative for Apple said in a statement to BI. "Should the order stand, Apple will continue to take all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the US as soon as possible."
The company has also accused Masimo of filing the patent dispute to benefit its own smartwatch, which Apple claims is a dupe of the Apple Watch, Bloomberg reported.
The ban on sales will impact at least the Series 9 and Ultra 2 models of the Apple Watch, though the budget Apple Watch SE won't be affected. In the meantime, engineers at Apple are scrambling to come up with a software modification in the hopes it could satisfy the ITC without having to remove any hardware from the watch models, Bloomberg previously reported.
Even if they can come up with a software workaround, Masimo has argued that the hardware of the devices would also need to change to comply with the ruling.
