Apple suffers setback over Siri in patent case in China

Fortune on July 9, 2014 had a post Apple loses Round 1 of Siri patent case in China which noted that Apple had gone to court against Shanghai-based Zhizhen Internet Technology and China’s State Intellectual Property Office seeking a ruling of patent invalidity against Zhizhen.

However, the First Intermediate Court in Beijing found against Apple, which allows Zhizhen to pursue its infringement claims AGAINST Apple over Siri.

Also eWeek had noted:



Zhizhen's patented technology powers Xiao i Robot software, which allows users to ask questions and can respond to voice commands. Siri, which can also respond to spoken commands, was originally introduced as an iOS application available in the App Store by Siri, Inc., which was acquired by Apple in 2010. "Our only demand is that Apple stop infringing on our patent and cover the court costs," Yuan told China Daily. -

Apple has been shelling out quite a bit of cash lately to Chinese firms. On July 2, the Associated Press reported Apple had agreed to pay Shenzhen Proview Technology $60 million to use the iPad name in China. The matter appears to settle an ongoing lawsuit between the two companies about which one really owns the name iPad. Apple has maintained that it purchased the global rights to the iPad name in 2009, but in December, a Chinese court ruled that it hadn't purchased the name for use in China. -



Of Siri, a PLI course discussed certain lawyers communicating confidential information to Siri.

Of patent law in China, note a 2012 article in 9 South Carolina J. Int'l Law & Business 89 and an article in 36 Harvard Environmental Law Review 123.

As to filing patent applications in China, note translation issues:


Translation accuracy is always a major issue for
patent applications filed by foreign entities in China. It
is common that a patent owner will discover that the
invention, as defined in a Chinese application, deviates
substantially from the original patent application as a
result of an inaccurate translation. To avoid translation
errors, especially if the invention is very important, it
would be prudent to seek professional proofreading
services for the patent documents including the claims
and specifications in Chinese.



And, as to getting damages, note from Forbes


As the RMB is not yet fully convertible, the Chinese government has in recent years promoted an offshore market where the currency can be used outside the Chinese mainland. In order further open up the currency for legal cross border transactions, special administrative zones are being established such as the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (‘PFTZ’) - dubbed the ‘hole in China’s currency wall’. In such special zones, full convertibility of the renminbi is allowed but only a small scale and under certain circumstances.