Chinese Regime Troubles Apple
The smartphone marker is not being allowed to sell its iPhone 6 and 6 plus in Beijing
Officials of Apple are proud of their strong understanding of the Chinese market, so they might be not surprised by an order given by a municipal injunction in May 2016 banning the sale of its iPhone 6 plus as well as 6 in the Chinese capital city of Beijing. The order, which was publicized recently and is dependent on an accused patent breach involving the external design of smartphones, has been deferred pending an appeal. But nevertheless the final ruling goes, the episode is another indication that the US consumer electronics maker is in the crosshairs of the regime.
The legal case against the Cupertino based organization was filed by an obscure organization known Shenzhen Bailil, which does not even have its website but seems to be another name for Digione, which is a newly emerging smartphone company. On 17th June 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese search engine developer Baidu is the biggest investor in Digione, and that founder of Baidu Robin Lin is a delegate with Community Party of China’s political advisory committee, suggested that both political and business interests are after Apple.
The problems of the tech organization with Shenzhen Bailli started in 2015, when it was unable to cancel a patent Chinese regulatory bodies issued for its 100C smartphone’s exterior design, which resembles to a certain extent to the iPhone 6. The judgment is in accordance to the Chinese trademark and patent rules that disadvantage multinational organization, not least by China based organization to register technologies as well as trademarks that are already being used outside the state. Patent trolling is also rising, with local organizations even purchasing foreign patents even if their quality was doubtful.
This legal system also elaborates upon another Chinese reversal for the US smartphone manufacturer, in which a court in Beijing judged in May 2016 that a China based organization can use the name “iPhone” on its purses as well as wallets. 3 years ago, the Cupertino based organization paid a sum of $60 million to device manufacturer Proview for settling a litigation over the trademark iPad in the country, which the Hong Kong based organization argued to be holding since 2000.
In China, Chinese state controlled media identified Tim Cook’s company as 1 of the 8 American “ guardian warriors” tech organizations that have “seamlessly infiltrated China”. Beijing also compelled Apple to shut down its iBook as well as iTunes Movies services in April 2016,7 months after they were rolled out. The US tech organization is especially quite vulnerable in China as by offering both hardware and content it becomes politically a threat for a government which is interested in keeping a check over the content available to consumers in the country.
