It seems like Apple has hit a rough patch when it comes to China and the sale of their products. China’s intellectual property rights agency has decided to ban Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, since it looks like the design is copied from one of their indigenous smartphone company.
Authorities in Beijing, China, have studied the design of the Apple iPhones and have decided that the designs are almost similar or same as the 100C that was created by Shenzhen Baili. Since the design of older iPhones from Apple have been found to be similar to phones manufactured by Shenzhen Baili, the authorities have asked Apple to not sell their products in the country.
Apple is, however, not going to let things go so easily. They have filed an appeal of the order that has banned the sale of Apple iPhones in China. This worked out miraculously for Apple since the legal court has stayed the ruling for the duration of the appeal and this means that Apple can go ahead and sell the iPhones in China during that period.
Apple might have been banned from selling iPhones in China, but the ruling didn’t stop the sale of Apple iPhone 6. This is a little bizarre since like all Apple iPhone designs, the phones look similar to each other. According to NPR, several stores in Beijing stopped selling the Apple iPhone 6, but it wasn’t because of the ban on the company, it was to bring in the latest updated iPhone 6 that Apple will be rolling out soon.
There are tech experts who feel that the ruling to ban Apple iPhone in China might be a huge blow for the company. China has seen a huge boom in the mobile sale and there are numerous indigenous companies who are trying to cash in on the sudden increase in the share of the mobile market. Shenzhen Baili is just one of the very few companies out there who are trying to cash in.
With Apple blacklisted, Shenzhen Baili might be the winner since they will be able to cash on the fact that Apple had copied their designs. The ruling to ban Apple iPhone might be restricted to Beijing right now and might not include Apple iPhone 6 at present, but the legal system might decide to make it a pan China case and might include all Apple products.
There is another report from CNN Money, which claims that Beijing’s intellectual property board has ruled that the design patent of Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus also violated the copyright of the Shenzhen Baili smartphone designs. This decision was made public in May, but there is no clear information on when the ruling was passed and to what extent.
The Apple iPhone 6 was launched in 2014 and since then Apple has updated the model to launch the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, and the Apple SE. This isn’t the first time that Apple has hit a wall with China.
Apple had been fighting a legal battle against a Chinese manufacturer of leather accessories for mobiles. The Cupertino Company had been fighting hard to stop the manufacturer from using the words iPhone on its mobile accessories, but it ultimately lost the four-year-long legal dispute.