Chinese companies seem to have found a new passion in suing Apple, and the Cupertino, California-based tech giant is now the target of yet another legal battle. This time, Apple was sued over its popular Siri technology, as a Shanghai-based company claims the iPhone maker has infringed on a patent involving its own virtual assistant software.
Shanghai Zhizhen Internet Technology has developed the software called "Xiao i Robot," a voice-operated personal assistant that can answer users' queries while also engaging in simple conversations. The company filed for a patent in China in 2004, and in 2006 it was granted the patent covering the software technology.
"We have a 100 million users in China, and many companies are using our product," Zhizhen chairman Yuan Hui told China Daily. The software is available for iOS, Android, Windows Live Messenger, and is used by several products from China Mobile, China Telecom, and major banks in the country.
Apple's popular personal assistant software, Siri, became available in China earlier this year, when the iPhone 4S officially launched in the country. Apple also announced last month that it had added Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese languages to Siri.
The Chinese company contacted the iPhone maker back in May to discuss the alleged patent infringement, according to Marbridge Daily, which was the first to report on the case and obtained a copy of the suit. Zizhen Internet Technology filed a lawsuit against Apple in a Shanghai court a month later on June 21, after Apple reportedly failed to respond. "Our only demand is that Apple stop infringing on our patent," said Yuan.
This is not the first litigation Apple faced in China. A Chinese court announced earlier this month that Apple had to pay $60 million for the ownership of the "iPad trademark" in China, as Chinese company Proview had sued the company for trademark infringement. Also, a Chinese company called Jiangsu Snow Leopard Household Chemical (Jiangsu Xuebao) sued Apple earlier this week for trademark infringement over Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Jiangsu Xuebao, however, has more modest aspirations compared to Proview Technology. The company is seeking $80,645 in damages, as well as an official apology from Apple. Meanwhile, Apple may face a different scenario with Zhizhen. Marbridge Daily reported that Zhizhen has not requested damages yet, but if it wins the case the compensation could likely exceed the $60 million settlement with Proview.
Zhizhen is dismissing criticism that its lawsuit against Apple comes at a very opportune time to attempt to squeeze some cash from the U.S. tech giant. "People feel that China has no innovation, that companies here just copy. But this is a misunderstanding," said Yuan. "We are a leader in our field, and we have created our own innovation." Yuan did not say whether Zhizhen would sue other developers of personal assistant technology in China.
