Apple’s iPhone 6 Design Was Not Copied, Chinese Court Ruled; Patent War With Nokia May Involve Samsung
ByApple wins its patent case against a small now defunct Shenzhen Baili, who accused the Cupertino giant of copying its designs for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. However, its patent war with Nokia is far from over with the latter seeking access to Samsung's documents to further its claims regarding Apple's patent infringement.
The Chinese court favored Apple's claims that it did not infringe on the Shenzen Baili's patent design for its own 100C smartphones last Friday. The Beijing Intellectual Property court overturned a May 2016 ruling and stated that the Chinese company's claim of patent infringement has no grounds. The court further stressed that the 100C smartphones are easily distinguishable from the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.
Though Apple's iPhone 6 sales in China were hardly affected by the patent case, the win is a major triumph for the tech giant. Last year, the company lost its case when the Chinese court favored a Chinese manufacturer Xintong Tiandi to use the iPhone label in its leather goods. The court explained that Apple did not register the iPhone name for leather products and favored the Chinese businessman. The Chinese legal system has been known to uphold the interest of its citizens over fair play until now, according to Tech Crunch.
Meanwhile, Apple's patent war against Nokia is escalating and may even involve Samsung who was once in a patent dispute with the Cupertino-based company. Apple has filed a lawsuit against Nokia for failing to keep to the agreement and allegedly gave out some of its patent designs to patent trolls, who were unsuccessful in extracting money from them. Nokia responded by filing patent infringement complaints against Apple and is now asking the court to have access to Samsung's documents. Nokia claims that Samsung has valuable information that is relevant to Nokia's claims and this information cannot be obtained in any other way unless the court order it so, 9to5Mac reported.
