The Democratic mega-donor who Joe Biden calls “one of my closest friends” has a chance to win against a ban on the latest version of Apple Watches – which the president has already maintained.
The Biden-backed ban was put on hold by a federal appeals court on Wednesday as Apple sought to overturn it — and ended a longstanding claim by medical technology company Masimo that the Silicon Valley giant had stolen its intellectual property.
Joe Kiani, the multi-billionaire founder and CEO of Masimo, has donated millions to Democrats and is a close supporter of Biden, with contributions including $1 million to his Biden Foundation.
But its legal battle with Apple led to the US International Trade Commission ruling that its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models infringe Masimo’s patent for blood oxygen level reading technology, and importing them should be banned.
The White House had until Christmas Day to overturn the ban by asking US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to block it, but decided not to and it went into effect.
This is how Joe Biden greeted Joe Kiani in 2015, when he was vice president. Kiani became one of the president’s biggest donors in the 2020 election and was rewarded with a role in a powerful White House advisory group. MediaNews Group via Getty Images Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen have been guests of Joe and Sarah Kianis at their $50 million farm and vineyard three hours north of Los Angeles. SplashNews.com In April, the besieged eldest son sought refuge with his wife and young son at Kianis’ 8,000-acre ranch in California. SplashNews.com
Then it was put on hold on Wednesday by a federal appeals court when Apple formally applied to appeal the decision, and successfully sought an emergency order putting the ban on hold.
The amount of money at stake for Apple or for Masimo is unknown.
But Kiani has cultivated a very close relationship with Biden, who in 2019 spoke at an event where Kiani was in the audience and called him “one of my closest friends,” the Associated Press reported.
Kiani, 59, is an Iranian-American businessman who is among Biden’s biggest donors.
Kiani and his stay-at-home wife Sarah are major donors to Democrats and their causes. Joe and Sarah Kiani were among the guests at the December 2022 Biden White House state dinner for Emmanuel Macron of France. C-SPAN
In addition to his $1 million donation to the Biden Foundation, Kiani donated $750,000 to the pro-Biden PAC Unite the Country in 2020, part of the nearly $3 million he raised for the president’s campaign, super PACs and inaugural committees. He is also a significant Democratic Party donor.
A spokesman for Masimo said the CEO and his “team” never lobbied Biden or Tai over the Apple Watch dispute and accused Apple CEO Tim Cook of having his own lobbying efforts.
“This dispute was never about money for Masimo,” the spokesman said. “The company’s motivation has always been and remains to hold Apple accountable for infringing Masimo’s patents and restore integrity to the market.”
The White House declined to comment. Tai’s office did not return a request for comment. The Post has reached out to Apple for comment.
The Biden administration allowed a federal ban to proceed with the latest version of the Apple Watch after tech company Joe Kiani launched a copyright infringement challenge against the tech giant. REUTERS The Apple Watch dispute puts Kiani at odds with Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was at the White House in June with Pres. Biden for talks on technology and investment with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Kiani and his wife Sarah were guests at a state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron in December 2022, and then at a White House reception for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, in March 2023.
“Thank you @POTUS and @FLOTUS for celebrating #Nowruz at the White House,” Now posting on X. “You have truly been a President for all Americans.”
A month later, in April, Kiani and his wife Sarah hosted the first son of Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen at their 8,000-acre Kiani Preserve, three hours north of Los Angeles.
The $50 million Santa Ynez estate includes a main house and guest house, both of which come with swimming pools, tennis courts and vineyards.
Catherine Kiani was given a job working for Jill Biden after she graduated from the tony liberal arts school, Claremont McKenna College. In 2002 his father posted this photo showing him voting for the first time on his Instagram. joe.kiani/Instagram Kiani’s daughter recounts her White House experience in her tony college alumni magazine. CMC Magazine
Kiani has cultivated a relationship with the Biden family in other ways. He offered an $85,000-a-year job to Biden’s troubled niece, Caroline Biden, in July 2018, according to emails and text messages found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The job will allow him to move to Los Angeles – where he wants to be close to his cousin Hunter, to serve two years of probation for a stolen credit card – but he scoffs that the offer works out to be “below minimum wage.”
The Biden family has helped the Kianis family.
Kiani was appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology in 2021. The panel is the only body “responsible for making science, technology and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House,” giving Kiani a great platform.
Kiani posed in front of this portrait of Biden as a senator, and used his social media to constantly praise the president for his policies. joe.kiani/Instagram
And Kiani’s daughter Catherine got her first job out of college working in Jill Biden’s office in the East Wing of the White House.
Catherine, now a student at Penn Carey School of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke about meeting alumni from her liberal arts school, Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, Calif., at a White House state dinner for Macron, where her parents were guests .
And the first lady spoke at a panel Kiani organized at the high-profile technology conference and film festival, SXSW, in Austin, Texas, in 2021, to push the “civic engagement platform” she started in 2020.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
