iPhone 6/6 Plus: Banned in Beijing Due To Patent Infringement

According to the Beijing Intellectual Property Office, Apple infringed patents related to the iPhone’s design, which looks like local manufacturer’s phone design, and for this reason the company was ordered to stop sales in the area of Beijing.

It reported that Apple violated patents of local manufacturer Baili, on the grounds that the design of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is almost same as the Chinese company’s model Baili 100C. Apple however may appeal against the decision to continue selling its devices during the process.

Although the decision is only applied in Beijing, it might create a precedent that would ban from selling the iPhone in other regions of China as well. This last obstacle is added to the decreased sales of this year’s first quarter Apple saw for the first time.

This prohibition is quite important for Apple, if you take into account that China is the largest and most important market for Apple, outside the US. This is not the first time the iPhone manufacturer is having trouble with the Chinese authorities. Recently, a court order allowed Xintong Tiandi, a Chinese company selling leather goods, use the iPhone brand on its products.

Note that the exterior design of the iPhone 6 is the same as the Baili 100C, and that constitutes a patent infringement- “Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have minor differences from Baili's 100C. The differences are so tiny that the average customer could not notice. So, this case falls into the patent rights protection category", states the decision taken on 10 May.