Chinese Company Tries to Stop iPhone Production Before Apple’s Big Keynote

Apple finally announced that its “California streaming” event would take place on September 14 – and while Apple didn’t mention what it will announce, the company is almost guaranteed to unveil the long-awaited iPhone 13 lineup. Not everyone’s thrilled with the idea, though.

Just a few moments before the announcement, it was revealed that a Chinese artificial intelligence firm filed a new lawsuit against Apple in an attempt to stop the new iPhone’s production.

New Lawsuit Tries to Stop iPhone 13 Production

Shanghai Zhizhen Intelligent Network Technology, also known as Xiao-i Robot, asked the Shanghai Higher People’s Court to ban the manufacture, sale, and export of iPhones that contain Siri, the South China Morning Post reports.

Although it may come as a surprise to most of us, this legal issue between Xiao-i Robot and Apple has been around for almost a decade.

The dispute between the two companies started because of Siri. Xiao-i Robot had applied for a patent of a “chat robot system that can complete conversations in natural language,” way back in 2004.

It later got its patent in 2009, a couple of years before Apple employed Siri on the iPhone 4S in 2011. Because of this, Xiao-i Robot filed a lawsuit to prevent any Apple device that used Siri could be sold in China.

Now, just a few days before Apple’s biggest event of the year, Xiao-i Robot is trying to stop production completely.

Yuan Hui, Xiao-i Robot chief executive, claims that Apple’s infringing its intellectual property and that it should stop selling any product that comes with Siri.

Apple should immediately stop the infringement, take down and stop selling the related products.

Yuan Hui, Chief Executive at Xiao-i Robot

As of this moment, an Apple spokeswoman only referred to a previous comment the company made regarding Xiao-i Robot’s patent infringement lawsuit in 2020.

Siri does not contain features included in their patent, which relates to games and instant messaging … Independent appraisers certified by the Supreme People’s Court have also concluded that Apple does not infringe Xiao-i Robot’s technology.

Apple

If this injunction is granted, that could be problematic for Apple. Reports have claimed that Apple’s Asian supply chain will produce an estimated 90 million iPhone 13 units. 

As of right now, however, things are still going as Apple planned. Apple will broadcast the event on September 14, starting at 10 a.m. PDT.

You’ll be able to watch it on many platforms, including Apple’s website, Apple’s YouTube Channel, and the Apple Events app on Apple TV.