Apple sues Chinese government over patent
苹果正式起诉中国国家知识产权局
Tech giant Apple is suing China's State Intellectual Property Office and a Shanghai company over patents. The Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court heard the case on Thursday.
The dispute is about voice-recognition technology used in Siri on the iPhone and iPad. Apple asked the intellectual office to confirm it holds the patent and rejects the request of Zhizhen Network Technology, which developed a Siri-like product called Xiao-I Robot.
Zhizhen sued Apple over patents nine months ago. But the Shanghai court has yet to make a ruling. Apple then asked the intellectual office to declare Zhizhen's voice recognition patent invalid, as its patent specification is unclear.
The agent of the intellectual office says it is up to professionals to judge the specification's clarity.