Chinese AI Firm Wants Apple to Stop iPhone Production Over Patent Infringement Claims

[MacRumors]

Ahead of next week's Apple event, which is expected to include the launch of the iPhone 13 lineup, a Chinese AI firm is asking a court to stop the production and sale of the iPhone in China, alleging that Siri infringes upon its patent, South China Morning Post reports.

Apple last year was hit with a $1.4 billion lawsuit from the Chinese AI firm Xiao-i Robot, which claims Apple violated its patent for a virtual assistant similar to Siri. At the time, the firm had asked Apple to cease "manufacturing, using, promising to sell, selling, and importing" all products that "infringe" upon its patent, which would include all devices with Siri.

In the latest escalation of its lawsuit, Xiao-i-Robot has asked a court in Shanghai to force Apple to end the production and sale of the iPhone. The AI firm announced it had applied for the preliminary injunction on its WeChat account just hours before Apple announced its "California Streaming" event for Tuesday, September 14.

Shanghai Zhizhen Intelligent Network Technology, also known as Xiao-i Robot, last Friday applied to the Shanghai Higher People's Court for a preliminary injunction to ban the manufacture, sale and export of iPhones containing Siri that infringe on its patent, according to the Chinese company's statement that was posted on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.

Xiao-i Robot chief executive Yuan Hui said in the statement that Apple did not respect its intellectual property. "Apple should immediately stop the infringement, take down and stop selling the related products," Yuan said.

If the court grants Xiao-i-Robot's injunction, it could significantly impact Apple's supply chain. While a ruling is unlikely to directly affect the iPhone 13 launch this month, it may impact future iPhone launches.

Apple, in a statement to South China Morning Post reiterated that Siri does not "contain features included in their patent, which relates to games and instant messaging" and further noted that local certified Chinese appraisers have "concluded that Apple does not infringe Xiao-i-Robot's technology."

Article Link: Chinese AI Firm Wants Apple to Stop iPhone Production Over Patent Infringement Claims

 

[Freeangel1]

OH MY!!

The Chinese copy and steal USA property all the time.

They have been on a buying spree of USA companies all during COVID.

 

[jefhai]

Time Apple pulls out of China completely. They shouldn’t put up with this extortion. We can / should replace FoxConn as a company in the US; significantly cheaper than replacing TSMC.

 

[LFC2020]

No chance this will happen.

 

[yellow8]

😂🤣 omg! The copy-machine saying it's producing originals.

 

[Guacamole]

china complaining they are being copied??? 🤣🤣

 

[NightFox]

'Xiao-i-Robot'? Retaliatory strike from iRobot incoming...

 

[klunernet]

Time Apple pulls out of China completely. They shouldn’t put up with this extortion. We can / should replace FoxConn as a company in the US; significantly cheaper than replacing TSMC.

Foxconn is not chinese. It’s Taiwanese. It already has plants all over the planet.

 

[kerr]

I'm pleased that they have finally heard of the iPhone 4S and Siri.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

China doesn't honor US patents, so why would any US based company honor theirs?

 

[jefhai]

Foxconn is not chinese. It’s Taiwanese. It already has plants all over the planet.

It’s Chinese 🇨🇳

But my other point is we should not rely on Chinese manufacturing for our important products. We don’t want them shaking up our life style in the US.

 

[ulyssesric]

PRC patent system is a joke. I knew that because in the past decade I’ve applied about 20+ invention patents in US and China, as part of my work. USPTO have rejected ~30% of my applications and the rests are accepts after overhaul, but China accepted them all without any objections.

 

[Marli]

Haha.. gold one.. China copy everything illegally. They don’t have the skills to create anything unique and new, so they just steal it..

 

[haruhiko]

Good luck with that! If they really do so then the scalpers will be very happy! Get ready!

 

[Marli]

but China accepted them all without any objections.

so they could steal the idea and copy it..

 

[knappeduivel]

It’s Chinese 🇨🇳

Wikipedia insists Foxcon is Taiwanese

Foxconn - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MrCrowbar]

Apple could just have said Siri does not "contain features" and end the sentence right there lol. I use it for setting short timers when cooking and for navigating home in the car, that's about it. Anything else is either cumbersome or too unreliable to be useful in my experience.

 

[jamcgahey]

Scroll amazon some time. See just how many china knockoffs there are. The article didn't provide too many details, but I find it unlikely there a legitimate claim. If the court does cease production than it will peek my interests.

 

[ophh1]

Typical Chinese advertising campaign

 

[popdan]

nah, apple would make sht ton over the penalty anyway

 

[MauiPa]

what, no google and Alexa? Fake patent. Can't have one infringe and not all, dah

 

[killhippie]

So does Google

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group and better known as Foxconn, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer with its headquarters in Tucheng, New Taipei City, Taiwan.

 

[bobob]

It's going to be difficult to pick sides for the many people who are both Apple haters and China haters.

 

[rosalindavenue]

$1.4 billion? That’s all they are suing for? That’s the modern equivalent of Dr. Evil seeing ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

 

[NYC Russ]

Peculiar timing. My guess is that this is part of an ongoing PRC campaign to whip up nationalism.