Apple will hold its September event next week and unveil at least the iPhone 13 series. Now a Chinese AI company is taking legal action to stop the production and sale of the iPhone 13 and all other iPhone models in China because Siri allegedly violates its patent.
Last year, Apple was sued by Chinese AI company Xiao-i Robot, which claims Apple infringed its patent for a virtual assistant similar to Siri, demanding $1.4 billion in compensation. At the time, the company asked Apple to stop "manufacturing, using, promising to sell, selling and importing" any products that "infringed" the patent, which would basically include any device with Siri. Now reported South China Morning Post reports that Xiao-i-Robot has asked a Shanghai court to force Apple to stop producing and selling the iPhone. The AI company announced the request for an injunction on its WeChat account - just hours before Apple announced its "California streaming" event for Tuesday, September 14.
Siri is to blame: Xiao-i Robot wants to ban iPhone in China
Shanghai Zhizhen Intelligent Network Technology, also known as Xiao-i Robot, applied to the Shanghai Supreme People's Court last Friday for an injunction to prohibit the production, sale and export of iPhones with Siri that infringe its patent, according to the Chinese company's statement posted on its official WeChat account on Tuesday. Xiao-i Robot's general manager Yuan Hui said in the statement that Apple does not respect its intellectual property. Apple should immediately stop the patent infringement, withdraw the relevant products from the market and stop sales.
If the court grants Xiao-i-Robot's injunction, it could have a significant impact on Apple's supply chain. While a ruling is unlikely to have a direct impact on the iPhone 13 launch this month, it could impact future iPhone launches and cause a stock market earthquake. In a statement to the South China Morning Post, Apple reiterated that Siri "does not contain any features included in its patent, which relates to gaming and instant messaging," and also pointed out that local certified Chinese reviewers "have concluded that Apple does not infringe Xiao-i-Robot's technology."
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