Shanghai Daily reports that Apple is facing a lawsuit in China over Siri, with Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology Co Ltd claiming that Siri infringes upon its patent rights.
The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court will hold a pre-hearing at 2pm today to let Apple and Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology Co Ltd exchange evidence. […]
“Siri is very similar to Xiaoi, a chat robot system we have been developing since 2003,” said Mei Li, a spokeswoman of Shanghai Zhi Zhen which filed the lawsuit.
Mei said her company applied for patent rights for Xiaoi in 2004 in China and the patent right went into effect in 2006.
Xiaoi “which started as a chat bot for MSN” has evolved to look quite similar to Siri, is available on multiple platforms such as Android and iOS [App Store] and has over 100 million users.
Zhi Zhen is seeking a halt to sales of infringing products, as well as reserving the right to seek compensation in the future.
“The company will ask Apple to stop manufacturing and selling products using its patent rights, once Apple’s infringement is confirmed,” Si Weijiang, a lawyer representing Zhizhen, told AFP.
“We don’t exclude the possibility of demanding compensation in the future,” he added.
Source [MacRumors]
\\ tags: apple, china, LawSuit, patent, Shanghai Zhi Zhen Internet Technology Co Ltd, Siri, Xiaoi, Zhi Zhen