Apple hit with $1.4 billion lawsuit over China's continued Siri patent claims

AppleInsider

A dispute over Apple's alleged use of Chinese patents in Siri is continuing with a new lawsuit demanding $1.43 billion in damages, and could potentially see Apple banned from China.

The Siri interface icon in iOS 13. Credit: Apple

Eight years after first suing Apple, Chinese company Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology is again pursuing the company with a lawsuit. This one repeats the contention that Apple has infringed on its patents, and is calling for Apple to be prevented from selling its devices in China.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology has filed a suit worth 10 billion yuan in a Shanghai court. The company owns a patent on a virtual assistant which is claimed to be similar to Siri.

Previously, Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled in 2014 that Apple had infringed on a voice recognition patent. Then after an appeal, Beijing Higher People's Court said a year later that Apple was not guilty of such infringement.

This latest suit follows a ruling in late June 2020 by China's Supreme Court that Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology does in fact own the patent for the virtual assistant. In the years since the original suit, Apple's use of Siri has expanded so much that any ban on its devices would affect practically all Apple products bar the Apple Pencil.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a ban is ultimately unlikely. However, it's possible that Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology may file for a preliminary injunction. This, too, is unlikely to succeed because of how stringent the conditions for a preliminary injunction are. But if successful, it could mean Apple being unable to sell products in China for the duration of the trial.

Next to the US and Europe, China is the most significant contributor to Apple's revenues. Apple revealed in its latest earnings report that it had earned $9.329 billion in sales there during the last quarter.

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red oak

Apple getting banned for something like this is almost 0%

SpamSandwich

It’s all about bribing the right people in China.

flyingdp

Everyone wants a piece of Apple pie

qwerty52

AppleInsider said: 
Eight years after first suing Apple, Chinese company Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology is again pursuing the company with a lawsuit.


For some companies, pursuing Apple for everything and more, it's become a kind of sport

ph382

Pure harassment, in my opinion. Chinese companies gleefully steal others’ intellectual property, but demand respect for theirs? Unfortunately, Apple will have to spend some of our money to defend themselves.

lkrupp

Sounds like a racketeering move by the CCP. When the U.S. starts getting uppity about Chinese skullduggery, threaten Apple, and all the while continuing to steal U.S. IP with abandon.

DAalseth

Remember a couple of years ago Apple lost a suit against a Chinese company that was using the name "IPHONE" for their leather goods. https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone-trademark-fight-illustrates-apples-headwinds-in-china
Law and what's right have nothing to do with how Chinese courts rule. It's all about what the Party wants.

EsquireCats

It's always a bit rich when China play intellectual property games. It's also a losing game - Apple's manufacturing in China is worth far more than a patent squabble. 

planetary paul

In a dictatorship nobody can take such actions without the dictator's mandate.
No matter whom you talk to, ultimately you are always talking to the dictator.

MplsP

EsquireCats said:

It's always a bit rich when China play intellectual property games. It's also a losing game - Apple's manufacturing in China is worth far more than a patent squabble. 

Exactly - for a country that steals more intellectual property than every other country on the planet combined to file a patent claim is more than a little galling.

Beats

The U.S. is too nice and wastes too much time hating Apple.

I would have put a harsh ban on knockoff products or fined the sh** out of them if they wanted to sell our technology back to us.

JinTech

I always find it funny when Chinese companies sue US companies.

Fatman

It's just one awful Chinese news story after another. We should blow the dust off our hydrogen bomb.... I honestly would never really think that - but China's immoral, arrogant, self centered ways are beyond frustrating - they have destroyed jobs globally and threaten the entire world's economy, health of all people, and health of our planet (anyone read about the 260 fishing boats off the coast of the Galapagos islands raping the world's ocean of fish). Can't they just do the right thing and be benefactors & contributors to the world ... on their own merits?

SpamSandwich

planetary paul said:

In a dictatorship nobody can take such actions without the dictator's mandate.
No matter whom you talk to, ultimately you are always talking to the dictator.

Strictly speaking, China has an authoritarian government and Xi Jinping is just a figurehead.

The real power lies within their National People’s Congress.

hexclock

When the Chinese rover lands on Mars in a couple of months, remember that it was our technology that got it there. 

johnbear

Who’s using Siri anyway?
just disable it by default in new iOS and make it available by regions or countries 
I hate when I setup a new iOS device and I can’t get quickly enough to the home screen because of stupid questions like ‘enable Siri, zoom view” and others

johnbear

SpamSandwich said:

planetary paul said:

In a dictatorship nobody can take such actions without the dictator's mandate.
No matter whom you talk to, ultimately you are always talking to the dictator.

Strictly speaking, China has an authoritarian government and Xi Jinping is just a figurehead.

The real power lies within their National People’s Congress.

BS! Thats not the US Congress 

killroy

This smells like a payback for Trumps banning of Chinese companies.

leighr

Hilarious. A Chinese Company claiming IP theft!  When was the last time a Chinese company paid up for stealing IP. Never. 

planetary paul

SpamSandwich said:

planetary paul said:

In a dictatorship nobody can take such actions without the dictator's mandate.
No matter whom you talk to, ultimately you are always talking to the dictator.

Strictly speaking, China has an authoritarian government and Xi Jinping is just a figurehead.

The real power lies within their National People’s Congress.

Exactly right, the dictator is the NPC. Xi may have carved out some extra years, but he may still be "retired" at the next shift in the balance of power.