Apple defends Siri in court

01-09-2013

Stephen Yang

On July 2, 2013, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court held a public hearing of a patent infringement case in which Zhizhen Technology Inc of Shanghai sued Apple Inc and Apple Computer Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd.

On July 2, 2013, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court held a public hearing of a patent infringement case in which Zhizhen Technology Inc of Shanghai sued Apple Inc and Apple Computer Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd. The alleged infringing item in the dispute is Siri, the intelligent chatting system installed on many Apple products, such as the iPhone 4S and iPad.

Zhizhen claimed that the defendants infringed Chinese patent No.200410053749.9, entitled a Chatting Robot System, filed on August 13, 2004 and granted on July 22, 2009. This patent was initially filed in the name of Shanghai Incesoft Co Ltd and later assigned to Zhizhen. A patented product has been marketed in China as the ‘little i robot’.

As of January 2012, Apple started selling products containing Siri in China. The plaintiff Zhizhen held that the Siri system installed on the iPhone 4S and iPad uses the patented technology and its technical solution falls within the scope of the claims of Chinese patent No.200410053749.9. Zhizhen requested the court to order Apple Inc to stop making, selling and using the infringing products and Apple Computer Trading (Shanghai) to stop selling and using the infringing products. 


Apple, Siri, Patent, China, Zhizhen Technology,

WIPR