Apple Inc. has lost a voice recognition patent infringement lawsuit in China against a state owned technology company, Shangai Zhizhen.
Apple accused the state intellectual property patent monitoring committee and the company, Shanghai-based Zhizhen Network technologies Inc., of breaking copyright law with regard to Siri, a voice recognition software, a Beijing court said.
Apple said it will appeal the adverse decision, which was announced Tuesday.
Shanghai Zhizhen claimed that it owned Siri software as a part of the instant messaging robot systems "Xiao i Robot" software, and that it had applied for a patent in 2004 and received one in 2006. However, Apple said that Siri software was available on the iPhone 4S model in 2011, and was developed by Siri Inc.in 2011.
The Patent Monitoring Committee decided the case in favor of "Xiao i Robot" company. After that decision, Apple sued Shangai Zhizhen and the committee.
Siri is released in the Iphones as an "intelligent personal assistant" voice recognition software that responds to user commands.
This is not the first case Apple has lost with regard to intellectual property rights in China. Two years ago, Apple had to pay $60 million to Xinjiang "Proview Technology" company in order to solve an iPad trademark dispute with the Chinese company.
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