Apple facing $1.4bn Siri lawsuit in China
A Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company is suing Apple for $1.4 billion at a Shanghai court, in a patent infringement lawsuit involving the Siri voice recognition system.
Shanghai Zhizhen Intelligent Network Technology claims that Siri infringes a Chinese patent granted in 2009, and declared valid by the Supreme People’s Court last July.
The AI developer urged Apple to cease “manufacturing, using, promising to sell, selling, and importing” infringing products in a social media post.
The Shanghai company is requesting damages of RMB10 billion ($1.43 billion) for the alleged infringement. It previously sued Apple for patent infringement over voice recognition technology in 2012, Reuters reports.
Apple has faced IP roadblocks in China before. A Chinese court issued an injunction barring the sale of older iPhone models during Apple’s long-running, global patent dispute with US chipmaker Qualcomm.
And in 2012, Apple was forced to pay $60 million to settle a dispute with a Shenzhen based company over the ‘iPad’ trademark.
Elsewhere, Apple was left liable for $85 million in damages earlier this year after it was found to have infringed patents owned by Canadian IP licensing company WiLAN.
Although it was a defeat for Apple in a long-running dispute, the figure was $60 million less than it was originally ordered to pay in 2018.
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