The Chinese artificial intelligence company ZhiZhen Network Technology is well known to Apple. And this acquaintance was not the most pleasant a few years ago. In 2013, the Cupertino-based company sued the Chinese company, alleging that its Little i Robot software was suspiciously similar to its voice assistant Siri. It demands to declare the Chinese software illegal, but in the end, this wasn’t the case.
This event was preceded by the fact that in 2012 Zhizhen Network Technology first went on the offensive against Apple, claiming that it was using Siri unlawfully. It turns out that the “apple” voice assistant was patented a year later than the development of the Chinese company. In this dispute, Apple emerged victorious; it was not banned from using the technology in China or infringed on its rights.
And now, after several years, history repeats itself. Zhizhen Network Technology has again filed legal action against Apple, claiming its voice assistant Siri infringes a patent on the Xiao-i Robot, a chatbot owned by a Chinese company. In their lawsuit, the Chinese demand to impose a temporary ban on the production, sale and export of Apple devices with Siri. In addition to the ban, Zhizhen Network Technology demands compensation in the amount of about $ 1.5 billion in damages.
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A Chinese company wants to ban iPhone production and sales
Unlike some companies that are suing Apple for patent infringement and wanting to profit from it, ZhiZhen is not a patent troll. The base of users of its software has more than 100 million users in China; including large Chinese companies such as China Mobile, China Telecom and several large banks.
Experts are rather skeptical about the prospect of banning the sale of Apple devices in China. The Chinese authorities will not agree to the conflict and stop the factories that produce the iPhone.
For months, there has been talk of when the iPhone 13 will be unveiled. Now Apple has announced that it will host a major event exactly one week later, on Tuesday September 14th. The presentation will be take place under the motto California streaming.
Apple usually unveils new iPhones at September events. Probably next Tuesday, the company will unveil the highly anticipated iPhone 13. Some of the new models could boast high refresh rate screens. In addition, all devices in the series should receive a reduced cutout for the face scanning system at the top of the screen. If this rumor is correct, the design of the notch will change for the first time; since the presentation of this element in 2017 as part of the iPhone X. Together with the new smartphones, the final version of iOS 15 will launch.
