A Beijing court has overturned a ruling that Apple Inc’s iPhone 6 violated a Chinese manufacturer’s patent which saw the US tech giant ordered to cease selling the smartphone in China.
The Beijing Intellectual Property Office in May last year had ruled that Apple violated design patents of Chinese maker Shenzhen Baili (深圳佰利) with its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and would be barred from selling those models.
Sales were not suspended while Apple appealed against the administrative order.
Photo: Bloomberg
The Intellectual Property Court in Beijing on Friday ruled in favor of the California-based firm.
The court “quashes the decision of the bureau” and “recognizes that Apple ... has not infringed the design patent filed by the company Shenzhen Baili,” the verdict reported by the state judicial daily Renmin Fayuan Ribao said.
The office, an administrative body of the Beijing municipality, had ruled that the two Apple smartphones infringed a Baili design patent.
It had accused the US firm of having “copied” the exterior design of Baili’s 100C smartphone, which is characterized by a curved edge and rounded corners.
However, the Beijing court ruled that the iPhone 6 had features that “completely change the effect of the entire product ... and both phones are easily distinguishable in the eyes of consumers,” finding Baili’s claim was without legal basis.
When it took on Apple in December 2014, Baili was a promising electronics firm, backed by Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc (百度), and eager to tap into the telecom boom.
The company has collapsed since then, hit by public criticism of offering products of poor quality and by China’s competitive smartphone market, which has seen many start-ups go under.
Apple has had other intellectual property problems in China. A maker of “iphone” branded leather goods in May last year won a lawsuit filed by Apple as the court ruled Xintong Tiandi (新通天地科技) had registered the word as a trademark in 2007, while Apple smartphones did not officially go on sale in China until 2009.
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