Apple iPhones Found to Have Violated Chinese Rival’s Patent

Remember the whole "click on a phone-number launch dialer" patent? We pulled the feature in the US phones, following the letter of the law since we lost the suit(back when Apple was going for Mfgrs instead of Google).

Apple filed an injunction with Customs right as we went into a huge marketing push for one of our devices. We had millions of phones sitting on the docks while FTC "investigated". 4-5 weeks later it was found that we hadn't violated, Apple never paid any fines and we had a ton of pissed off customers who couldn't get phones.

http://www.wired.com/2012/05/apples-patent-win-delays-shipme...

China is great in many ways, but it's IP / Copyright protection is abysmal and is used by the state as propaganda / propaganda control.

Portray China negatively in a film? Oh look, no sales the few theatres that are showing it have the scenes altered and of course don't pay royalties.

Neutrally portray China? Oh look about 1% of the royalties you were supposed to get.

Portray China positively? Blockbuster Chinese release. Unprecedented sales, collect nearly 80% of the royalties you were supposed to.

They have the same Real Politik handle on technology. They're not going to respect American Patents until it suits them. Not to say we're blameless; but if it is too asymmetrical I could see the west imposing levies to rectify the imbalance.

I live in a third-world country, where it has become almost impossible to get basic stuff (tools, lights, everyday household items) that doesn't break down after a month thanks to cheap Chinese knockoffs shamelessly muscling every other company off the local market. Almost nobody wants to stock "genuine" brands.

Even if I wasn't an Apple fan I would be rooting for them here; they seem to be the only company big enough to fight back against China's crap.

This would not be the first time this happened:

http://www.androidauthority.com/goophone-sue-apple-china-112...

I'm no fan of Apple's ways sometimes, but it's like comparing a borderline unscrupulous business to an organized crime outfit.

It would not surprise me one bit if this whole "patent violation" is nothing but a sham to fool people like you into believing there's some legitimacy behind efforts to sabotage Apple taking over the market from Chinese firms / state control.

now where is the iphone produced again? it's a chinese phone sans the IP (designed by apple in cali).

Even if the plaintiff is a patent troll, or merely an obscure company with a bogus patent? Even if this "patent tribunal" ruled incorrectly because of bias toward the domestic company? Even if the tribunal had been bribed by the company (pure speculation, but bribery is how you get things done in China's bureaucracy)?

I don't tend to have emotions one way or the other about these kinds of commercial and legal disputes, but corruption and patent trolling seems a lot more likely than big evil Apple stealing the innocent Baili Co.'s intellectual property and getting their comeuppance.

So do US juries, hence the Apple lawyers continually referring to Samsung as Samsung Korea.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/03/as-4th-trial-near...

The idea that China is doing anything that the US wouldn't is ridiculous, every country engages in this stuff the only difference how is complex the US, UK and other Western countries do it. China does it simplistically and obviously, but meh... every country does it, and Apple have been wrong to encourage this stuff to their advantage when everything comes around eventually.

From illiterate journos or YouTube comments?

Apple sued Samsung for cloning.

Samsung has been copying Apple to the millimeter, they have discovered a book with ways they should copy Apple, and they were spreading misinformation to the consumer like "Samsung makes the iPhone for Apple", or "it's like the iPhone, but bigger and better", and other BS.

Also, there is no problem in making a rectangular phone, but making the edges EXACTLY the same radius as Apple's? That ridiculous.

Samsung more than deserved what they got, from their advertising, where they attacked Apple users and offended them. For that reason, I will never buy a Samsung device, even if it's 100x better and 1/100 of the price of an Apple's (or everyone else) equivalent.

And their unilateral comparisons to Apple on their product announcements? Ahah, ridiculous!

2. Lots of E Asian countries with similar workforces developed without stealing IP. The strong arm tactics against foreigners are a way for the Chinese government to control local industries, not to grow them. It slows down economic development but keeps it under the thumb of the Communist Party.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/06/china-has-whol...

Yet another cell phone patent dispute. Except for one thing: "Beijing" is not being used here as a metonym for "the Chinese government." It means Beijing. The city of Beijing, which apparently has its own intellectual property authority. Do other cities also have their own IP authorities? Apparently yes:

{quotes: http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/enforcing-intellectual-pr...}

Civil enforcement of IPR in China is a two-track system. The first is the administrative track....Set up in the provinces and some cities, these local government offices operate as a quasi-judicial authority and are staffed with people who specialize in their respective areas of IP law. If they are satisfied with an IPR holder’s complaint, they investigate. The authorities can issue injunctions to bring a halt to the infringement, and they can even enlist the police to assist in enforcing their orders.

How about that? Cities can't award monetary damages, but they can order your product off the shelves.

Apple wasn't barred after all...

China is not that different from the west in that respect in many cases. They are making massive strides in certain areas of renewable energy and other environmental issues because it started affecting the bottom line by a mix of costs to the economy (through public health issues and related) & international reputation (as far as that affects investment from outside) and uncertainty in the economy (due to predicted problems otherwise sourcing enough fossil fuels at reasonable cost in the not too distant future if things keep growing at the intended rate).

Companies and governments care when it costs them not to.

Foxconn, Apple's primary manufacturing partner in China, is opening factories in India. It looks like Apple's trying to diversify away from its dozen or so Chinese factories.

Apple's talked about bringing more manufacturing back to the U.S., but so far apparently has not done very much of that, perhaps waiting until after the elections to see what the political climate is like in 2017 and beyond.