Sam Oliver
A Beijing court has affirmed the validity of a voice recognition patent — held by China's Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co. — that Apple is accused of infringing with Siri, clearing the way for the resolution of a long-pending intellectual property case that could see the personal digital assistant muted in China.
Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled on Tuesday that China's Patent Review Committee made the correct choice when upholding a patent covering Zhizhen's "Little I Robot" application, a "chat robot system" similar to Siri. Apple disagrees and will appeal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"Unfortunately, we were not aware of Zhizhen's patent before we introduced Siri and we do not believe we are using this patent," an Apple spokeswoman told the publication. "While a separate court considers this question, we remain open to reasonable discussions with Zhizhen."
Zhizhen first filed suit against Apple in a Shanghai court in 2012, and the iPhone maker responded by seeking a review of the patent. That review went against Apple, at which time the company sued both the Patent Review Committee and Zhizhen in Beijing.
Both parties appear to be open to settling the matter in order to avoid the same kind of drawn-out litigation Apple was forced into over its iPad trademark in China. Apple eventually paid some $60 million to Shenzhen Proview Technology in order to settle that case.
"The most important thing is to ensure [Zhizhen's] rights," Zhizhen lawyer Yuan Yang said. "The company doesn't have a specific economic request. In the end, it might be that the two sides could cooperate to deal with the problem and reach a win-win result."
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
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Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
34 Comments
Patents can cut both ways it would seem. It is interesting to see how patents can actually be impediments to technology advancements, especially from the standpoint of patent trolling in which vultures with no product sit and wait to pounce on companies who actually make things.
In this case it looks like Apple knows it is on the losing end of the stick and is willing to settle. That being said, however, I cannot bring myself to trust any legal ruling out of a totalitarian country like China.
I'm a bit surprised at this. According to the wording of Apple's statement tho they seem to acknowledge Zhizhen's patent precedes Apple's Siri. [I]"Unfortunately, we were not aware of Zhizhen's patent before we introduced Siri and we do not believe we are using this patent," an Apple spokeswoman told the publication.[/I]
Its a communist country, the court is an arm of the state and will rule whichever way it is told to. It is used as a weapon of business and profit not the rule of law.
It's interesting in the video how much Apple's siri button resembles the prior art.
isn't it ironic? I mean CHINA...