Chinese bureau finds Apple copying smartphone patents with iPhone 6 design

Posted:
in iPhone edited June 2016
The design of Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is too similar to the 100C phone by Shenzhen Baili, and violates that company's patents, the Beijing Intellectual Property Office ruled on Friday.




The decision only affects Beijing for the moment, and Apple may still be able to sell iPhone 6 models while it files an appeal, Bloomberg reported. The company is in fact said to have several means of fighting any possible sales ban, such as the Beijing Higher People's Court or the Supreme People's Court.

Apple didn't comment on the matter, but needs to appeal not just because of the prospect of losing sales in a major city, but the precedent such a ruling could have elsewhere in China. The company has already filed a lawsuit to try and quash the ruling, according to CRI.

The country has sometimes proven a tough battleground for Apple in terms of patents and trademarks. Just this year the company lost exclusive rights to the "iPhone" name, and in 2012 it had to pay out $60 million to settle a dispute over the "iPad" trademark. The company does sometimes win battles in the region, however.

The point of the Baili case could become moot by the end of 2016. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have already largely been sidelined by Apple in favor of the iPhone 6s and the iPhone SE, and this fall the company is expected to launch next-generation devices that could bump the iPhone 6 series out of its product lineup.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 53
    Move all manufacturing out of China and into India.

    Let's start flexing our muscles and stop getting pushed around for some BS reasons.

    Chinese IP Properties = Oxymoron 
    mwhiteredraider11larryamagman1979jony0
  • Reply 2 of 53
    mubailimubaili Posts: 453member
    What kind of idiots would mistake theses two phones? And what are the differences between 6 and 6s in terms of design? That Beijing office just throw its all credibility down to the drain together with the central government's
    jay-tmwhiteronnjbdragonjony0
  • Reply 3 of 53
    snailersnailer Posts: 51member
    That white 100+ looks exactly like my iPhone 3G did in 2009.
    macguimwhitejkichlinemessagepad2100ronnnetroxjbdragonjony0
  • Reply 4 of 53
    xbitxbit Posts: 390member
    What a ridiculous ruling.
    jay-tmwhitemacguimessagepad21001983ronnmagman1979jbdragonjony0
  • Reply 5 of 53
    Let's start flexing our muscles and stop getting pushed around for some BS reasons.
    "Our"? Do you work for Apple or is this comment similar to a sports team's fan talking about how "we" won when really all they did was watch the game on TV and literally contributed nothing to the actual winning of the game?
    kissthenamesingularitymike1gatorguymacky the mackyrevenantstaticx57
  • Reply 6 of 53
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    Hi, we're China...we make up rules as we go along!

    What a joke.  Agree with the poster who said Apple should move their manufacturing out of China.  
    edited June 2016 macguimwhiteronnmagman1979pulseimagesjony0
  • Reply 7 of 53
    singularitysingularity Posts: 1,328member
    igorsky said:
    Hi, we're China...we make up rules as we go along!

    What a joke.  Agree with the poster who said Apple should move their manufacturing out of China.  
    Where to? Where has has the capability and capacity to replicate the manufacturing?
    cornchipthepixeldoc
  • Reply 8 of 53
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    Hi, we're China...we make rules up as we go along!
    igorsky said:
    Hi, we're China...we make up rules as we go along!

    What a joke.  Agree with the poster who said Apple should move their manufacturing out of China.  
    Where to? Where has has the capability and capacity to replicate the manufacturing?
    First of all Foxconn is already starting the process of replacing people with manufacturing robots, so this concept of "capability and capacity" in China will shortly become overrated and outdated. Second, India is very close to becoming the next China as far as capability and capacity.
    edited June 2016 mwhitedavenronn
  • Reply 9 of 53
    leighrleighr Posts: 253member
    Since when did China have copyright laws?
    loquiturronncaccamuccaviclauyycjbdragon
  • Reply 10 of 53
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    Let's start flexing our muscles and stop getting pushed around for some BS reasons.
    "Our"? Do you work for Apple or is this comment similar to a sports team's fan talking about how "we" won when really all they did was watch the game on TV and literally contributed nothing to the actual winning of the game?
    You know exactly what he's trying to say, so what's the difference how he says it?
    macguimwhitemacxpressredraider11ronnnolamacguypulseimagesesteban
  • Reply 11 of 53
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    Yeah... as though the 100c itself didn't copy the general look-and-feel of the full iPhone family that came before it... invented by Apple.
    macguimwhiteronnlarryajbdragonpulseimages
  • Reply 12 of 53
    stanthemanstantheman Posts: 332member
    So ... the city of Beijing has its own official who decides that iPhone 6/6s violates the design patents of the maker of iPhone knock-offs, while the patent officers of other Chunese cities hold the opposite opinion. It appears that someone in Beijing wants to attract the attention of Tim Cook.
    mwhiteronn
  • Reply 13 of 53
    dacloodacloo Posts: 890member
    Move all manufacturing out of China and into India.

    Let's start flexing our muscles and stop getting pushed around for some BS reasons.

    Chinese IP Properties = Oxymoron 
    "Our" muscles? Are you an Apple employee? If not, why do you care? I think the multi billion dollar company will take care of it just fine.
    gatorguysingularity
  • Reply 14 of 53
    starwarsstarwars Posts: 72member
    That 'similar' is not even close. And that is an ugly and cheapo phone there.
    ronn
  • Reply 15 of 53
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    Someone didn't get the expected bribe, or holds stock in the knock-off company, or thought the mere fact of having a legal squabble with Apple would put their company on the map...
    ronnviclauyycjbdragonrcpone
  • Reply 16 of 53
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Political leverage, a touch of blackmail and a not very subtle suggestion that bribery may smooth out the rough patches. That's China in a nutshell. 
    macky the mackystompy
  • Reply 17 of 53
    cincyteecincytee Posts: 403member
    igorsky said:
    "Our"? Do you work for Apple or is this comment similar to a sports team's fan talking about how "we"?...
    You know exactly what he's trying to say, so what's the difference how he says it?
    Well, the difference in how one says what one means is kind of the essence of language, isn't it? I'm always amazed that people who perfectly understand the need for precision in code pay no attention to it in real world communications, where it pays similar dividends.
    macky the mackyai46beowulfschmidt
  • Reply 18 of 53
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member
    The irony
    ronnjbdragon
  • Reply 19 of 53
    dacloo said:
    Move all manufacturing out of China and into India.

    Let's start flexing our muscles and stop getting pushed around for some BS reasons.

    Chinese IP Properties = Oxymoron 
    "Our" muscles? Are you an Apple employee? If not, why do you care? I think the multi billion dollar company will take care of it just fine.
    Apple is a publicly traded company. If you own stocks in Apple, you are a partial owner of that company. As I own over million dollars in Apple shares, that gives me right to say, WE.
    redraider11iqatedocornchip
  • Reply 20 of 53
    leighr said:
    Since when did China have copyright laws?
    I think it is in their constitution:  "thou hast the right to copy everything."
    edited June 2016 ronnjbdragon
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