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Apple Faces Patent Lawsuit Over Siri in China

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,523
30,811



Shanghai Daily reports that Apple is facing a lawsuit in China over Siri, with a company there claiming that Siri infringes upon its patent rights.
The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court will hold a pre-hearing at 2pm today to let Apple and Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology Co Ltd exchange evidence. [...]

"Siri is very similar to Xiaoi, a chat robot system we have been developing since 2003," said Mei Li, a spokeswoman of Shanghai Zhi Zhen which filed the lawsuit.

Mei said her company applied for patent rights for Xiaoi in 2004 in China and the patent right went into effect in 2006.
Click to expand...
While the Xiaoi bot began life as a chat bot for MSN and similar networks, it has since migrated to a number of platforms including Android and iOS, and has evolved to look quite similar to Siri, although the iOS version of the app [App Store] uses a different style for the microphone icon and button.

xiaoi.jpg
Android version of Xiaoi (left) vs. iOS version (center and right)​
AFP reports that Zhi Zhen, which has over 100 million users of Xiaoi, is seeking a halt to sales of infringing products, as well as reserving the right to seek compensation in the future.
"The company will ask Apple to stop manufacturing and selling products using its patent rights, once Apple's infringement is confirmed," Si Weijiang, a lawyer representing Zhizhen, told AFP.

"We don't exclude the possibility of demanding compensation in the future," he added.
Click to expand...

Article Link: Apple Faces Patent Lawsuit Over Siri in China
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/27/apple-faces-patent-lawsuit-over-siri-in-china/
James_C

James_C

macrumors 68030
Sep 13, 2002
2,817
1,822
Bristol, UK
Sigh - Another day, another lawsuit. I am not saying that Zhi Zhen don't have a legitimate case, but it just appears that because Apple have deep pockets that everyone wants a piece.

MacLegalRumours.com.

Sometimes I wish these rumours stay off the front page until something more substantive is proven, rather than just X decides to sue Apple over feature Y.
 
Matt-M

Matt-M

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2009
123
0
Nashua, NH
The look and behavior in that video is so exactly like Siri, there are really only two possibilities:

1) Apple stole it outright from Zhi Zhen.

2) Zhi Zhen patented the basic concept in 2004, but stole the current look and feel from Apple once Siri shipped.

The discovery process should be interesting!

(P.S., my money is on #2 above)
 
whooleytoo

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
ihuman:D said:
Hmmm... My laptop looks "very similar" to a MBP. I think I'll sue.

Everyone wants a byte of the Apple pie.
Click to expand...

And Apple files quite a few lawsuits too.

Considering how many markets and technical areas Apple has a finger in these days, it probably isn't surprising they're involved in more suits than companies focused in one area.
 
W

Wildproject

macrumors newbie
Mar 27, 2013
1
0
I'm pretty sure that that's the updated version ... And the first version didn't work and look like that ... I think that apple should win in this patent lawsuit
 
Synchromesh

Synchromesh

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2009
619
121
SF
This is amazing! The Chinese tend to be the most blatant copyright breakers themselves and yet they have the guts to sue others. I wish all the automotive companies sued them for copying designs. That would've been an interesting day.
 
HobeSoundDarryl

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
Feb 8, 2004
12,242
15,618
Hobe Sound, FL (20 miles north of Palm Beach)
What, 14 posts and no...
-"Die Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology. Die" or
-"Apple should just buy Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology" or
-someone making some conspiracy connection that Samsung is probably behind this.

Of course, there is already the usual pro-Apple posts making this company out to be another idea thief ignoring that they had a patent on this technology BEFORE there was an iPhone gen 1. I know that many of us think that only Apple can innovate anything and that the time something is actually patented only matters when Apple is the one who actually patented something first but other companies can innovate and time to the patent office benefits whichever company gets there first. Apple "innovating" something later doesn't automatically make something created years ago some theft of Apple innovation (they would have needed to time travel into the future to see the Siri "innovation" to do that).

Get over yourselves. Sometimes other companies invent good things before Apple. If they build a Siri-like thing first, they deserve their rewards just as if Apple built some feature first and someone copies them later. Why is the patent system stupid & outdated when it works against Apple but celebrated when it works for Apple?
 
I

ihuman:D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2012
925
1
Ireland
HobeSoundDarryl said:
What, 14 posts and no...
-"Die Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology. Die" or
-"Apple should just buy Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology" or
-someone making some conspiracy connection that Samsung is probably behind this.

Of course, there is already the usual pro-Apple posts making this company out to be another idea thief ignoring that they had a patent on this technology BEFORE there was an iPhone gen 1. I know that many of us think that only Apple can innovate anything and that the time something is actually patented only matters when Apple is the one who actually patented something first but other companies can innovate and time to the patent office benefits whichever company gets there first. Apple "innovating" something later doesn't automatically make something created years ago some theft of Apple innovation (they would have needed to time travel into the future to see the Siri "innovation" to do that).

Get over yourselves. Sometimes other companies invent good things before Apple. If they build a Siri-like thing first, they deserve their rewards just as if Apple built some feature first and someone copies them later. Why is the patent system stupid & outdated when it works against Apple but celebrated when it works for Apple?
Click to expand...

Exactly but this company actually copied the look of Siri. It's all fine and dandy that they thought of this and patented it before Apple but then they actually copied Apple's Siri UI. It's blame on both parts.
 
dixido

dixido

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2010
100
278
This is just ridiculous. The Chinese haven't invented anything since fireworks!
 
convergent

convergent

macrumors 68040
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,082
Anyone in China claiming that they had some intellectual property stolen is laughable. Culturally, they are taught from birth that there is no such thing as intellectual property rights, and that everything is community property. They are taught that copying is a good thing.

I had a long discussion with some colleagues in China on this subject when we were trying to have them work on content that required a Certificate of Originality, and they had difficulty understanding the basic concept of intellectual property rights.

My guess is that in this case what they asserting ownership of is something they had previously stolen.
 
T

thewordiz

macrumors member
Nov 8, 2010
45
0
another thought, on your thought

Matt-M said:
The look and behavior in that video is so exactly like Siri, there are really only two possibilities:

1) Apple stole it outright from Zhi Zhen.

2) Zhi Zhen patented the basic concept in 2004, but stole the current look and feel from Apple once Siri shipped.

The discovery process should be interesting!

(P.S., my money is on #2 above)
Click to expand...


U.S. Patents (and others) don't mean anything in China. Or Korea. Why is it that we are surprised when Asian companies steal technology. They are RIP OFF ARTISTS! We give them a lot of our tech (to make for us) and then act surprised when they rip us of. Hilarious.

Lastly, I got news for ya. There are NO original ideas, at any one time there are many people thinking about viable solutions or products, it's just who get's them to market 1st, and who secures them with patents the best.

Plus, in this industry with especially non hardware patents, there are going to be a lot of cross technologies. Patents for tech will be hard to prove in the near future if we are to really have innovative application of said tech.
 
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