"A Chinese court has heard claims that Apple’s Siri personal assistant infringes a patent owned by a local firm that makes similar voice-activated software for both iOS and Android, in just the latest setback for Cupertino in the country.
Shanghai’s Zhizhen Network Technology Co. first patented its “Xiao i Robot” software in 2004, three years before Siri made her rather troubled (but heavily marketed) entrance into the market. Zinzhen claims more than 100 million users in China for the software, in a wide variety of industries."
When it comes to determining priority, the Chinese patent predates the existence of the iPhone, so there isn't really an issue there. However, the question arises whether Apple is indeed violating this patent.
Now, Apple faces two problems. Firstly, if it loses the patent case, they'll have to stop selling or at least take Siri of those phones that they do sell. They would also have to pay a huge damages fee. Secondly, losing the patent case in China would mean that Siri's patent is not secure anywhere else either, as anyone who would want to challenge Siri's patent could just point to the Chinese patent as prior art.
This case is a more worrying case than what Apple was involved in before in China.
Apple could very much suffer a huge hit in China if this case gets traction. The patent for Xiao iRobot very much predates Apple's entry into China with Siri. I think that it just comes down to the actual content of the patent and how stringent the China Patent System requirements are.
ReplyDeleteIn the case where Apple needs to suspend iPhone sales to China as this gets sorted out, I actually think that this won't impact Apple in a very big way. Even when Apple wasn't directly selling iPhones and other merchandise in China, the products still made their way there. Apple customer loyalty in China is just as powerful as that of the United States (for better or for worse).
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