Kiani says that someone needs to stand up to Apple
The pulse oximeter measures the saturation of oxygen carried in a person’s red blood cells and should range between 95% to 100%. A reading under 95% means that the person has low oxygen levels aka hypoxemia and might need supplemental oxygen. It could also indicate a problem with a person’s lungs.
Getting your blood oxygen reading on the Apple Watch
Why is Kiani willing to spend so much money of Masimo’s cash on this particular case? His response was, “No one is standing up to them. If I can do it, it might change Apple for the better.” The answer also makes Kiani sound like a martyr willing to take such a big financial hit just to teach Apple a lesson.
With the Exclusion Order on hold for now, Apple also reportedly developed an alternate method for the Apple Watch to measure a wearer’s blood oxygen level. Apple allegedly submitted the changes with U.S. Customs with a ruling set for January 12th. If the agency agrees that the changes mean that Apple no longer infringes on Masimo’s patents, Apple will be allowed to ship the affected timepieces with the changes.
Kiani took in over $2 billion from earlier patent infringement cases dating back to 2006
While this battle against Apple could take many more years to resolve, Kiani has shown patience and resolve before. In 2006, Kiani won a patent dispute with rival pulse oximeter manufacturer Nellcor and collected nearly $800 million in damages and royalties. In another patent infringement case from 2016, Masimo collected $300 million from Royal Philips and garnered from them another $1 billion in licensing fees.
Kiani may sound like he has altruistic motives for taking on Apple. “I feel like I have to do this. If I can change the most powerful company in the world from continuing to act badly, that’ll have more impact on the world than anything else I’m doing,” he says. But as the earlier cases against Nellcor and Royal Philips prove, he isn’t against rolling the dice and spending $100 million with the opportunity of adding $1 billion or more to the company’s coffers.
