Chinese Firm Claims Apple Copied Its Design For iPhone 6

[HardOCP News]

I had no idea that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been banned in China because Apple has been accused of copying a competitor's design. Here's a picture of the phone Apple has been accused of copying.

After the iTunes Movies and iBooks Store ban back in April, the previous generation of iPhones have recently been accused of infringing the design patent of some random Chinese company's "100C" smartphone under the "100+" brand. Don't laugh, because the Beijing Intellectual Property Office has since ordered Apple to stop selling its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Beijing, with the reason being the general consumers won't be able to tell the "minute differences" between Apple's design and the 100C. No, really.

 

[Deleted whining member 223597]

China, where the ones who copy win against those who originally made it. What a great country.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I really feel bad for the Chinese companies that may actually create/invent something because the rest of the world just laughs when they claim someone copied them. I mean I'm sure there is some rich Nigerian out there too who wants to get his funds out of the area but no one is ever going to believe him

 

[jardows]

Considering that all chinese firms are either owned by, or controlled by the government, and China is desperately wanting to be independent of Western corporate influence, by having all home-grown tech, this sounds very suspicious to me.

 

[NeoNemesis]

I wish it was as hard for Chinese companies to do business in North America as it is for North American companies to do business in China. Really pisses me off how one sided it is.

 

[Nukester]

I wish it was as hard for Chinese companies to do business in North America as it is for North American companies to do business in China. Really pisses me off how one sided it is.

I don't believe anything that comes from the split tongue Chinese. Just take a LONG look at their history.

 

[pgwalsh]

I wish it was as hard for Chinese companies to do business in North America as it is for North American companies to do business in China. Really pisses me off how one sided it is.

This was bound to happen after 1997, it was just a matter of time. We produce nothing, China produces everything and now they see that it's in their best interest to slowly push us out.

 

[Nukester]

This was bound to happen after 1997, it was just a matter of time. We produce nothing, China produces everything and now they see that it's in their best interest to slowly push us out.

No, Chinese steal our product research and produce them cheaper. That simple. Do they actually design and produce their own stuff? Yeah, but it's usually pretty shitty.

 

[pgwalsh]

No, Chinese steal our product research and produce them cheaper. That simple. Do they actually design and produce their own stuff? Yeah, but it's usually pretty shitty.

I'm not disagreeing with you, so not sure why you said: No. China is more than happy to let us produce there and now they're openly stealing our ideas and I do feel they intend to push us out eventually. Just look at what Jack Ma has said recently. They're going to openly rip us off, but not just with computers. Once they get the quality down, we're in trouble.

 

[jpcahn1]

I have my iPhone 6S in front of me. It looks nothing like this phone. The camera and LED are horizontal NOT vertical like the China one. The front camera is on the opposite side of the earpiece, and there is a giant round fingerprint sensor on the bottom unlike the china device. In other words they look nothing alike. This is ridiculous.

 

[Jim Kim]

Envelopes stuffed with cash are being delivered to the proper Chinese government employees. Same as it ever was.

 

[Uvaman2]

Huh-Huh, Huh-Huh
We can keep telling each other all kinds of things, it irrelevant.
The Chinese are moving in the direction of their people, however messy and problematic things are for them.. I mean they are over a billion.
Can we say the same?
No, I'm not talking even about 'inequality', more like national interest.. its a national interest at this point to have, you know real factories and real production of, you know 'things'.
Best we can do is surround Russia and China with bases, and still dream this is 1980.
Best we can do is try to do some shitty trade pact to take factories away from China as if they are stupid and going to sit on their hands and not project power.
10 more years, and we have no chance of winning any war around China, and probably ZERO credibility in projecting our 'power' there.
Its looking kind of jokish right now.. they already have plenty of missile tech to cancel our carriers, its kind of pointless to keep projecting.
I mean it could all be bullshit, and maybe their missiles are garbage, their hypersonic missiles a myth, and their military a joke, who knows?
World is becoming a bit multipolar again, its time to start acting like it is, part of that, is a measure of isolation (do our own things, you know), and a measure of respect.
I am not sure we will.

 

[amdgamer]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

 

[pgwalsh]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

I do when possible. Having two tables made for my house right here in the USA. However a lot of companies say "made in the USA", but it's just assembled here. How do you buy computers made in the USA without supporting China in some way.

 

[hesho]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

you would be amazed at how many things are built there or how "Made is XXX" is a marketing gimmick since it isn't required to be 100% made in that country..

 

[Vercinaigh]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

Get ready to have very little of anything in your life. No car, no appliances, no electronics, hell half of your furnishings probably have Chinese sourced materials/parts/craftsmanship in them. It's easy to sound like a big man like this when you're ignorant to the meaning behind the sentence, no offense.

 

[Nukester]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

As long as some of it was produced in the USA, i'm good. Assembly requires a plant and employees. .

 

[sfsuphysics]

Get ready to have very little of anything in your life. No car, no appliances, no electronics, hell half of your furnishings probably have Chinese sourced materials/parts/craftsmanship in them. It's easy to sound like a big man like this when you're ignorant to the meaning behind the sentence, no offense.

Yup, the kicker for me was seeing a bottle of apple juice with the words "concentrate from china" in very hard to read leters on the clear part of the bottle. I mean food ffs coming from there, and you know they have all sorts of pollution issues, wife's cousin came to SF and wife said " it was very foggy here" and the reply was "I didnt think there is that much air pollution there"... yup they dont have smog issues they have"fog" care of the ministry of lying about shi5

 

[Scottw]

Get ready to have very little of anything in your life. No car, no appliances, no electronics, hell half of your furnishings probably have Chinese sourced materials/parts/craftsmanship in them. It's easy to sound like a big man like this when you're ignorant to the meaning behind the sentence, no offense.

That's why amdgamer said "when possible." Being at least assembled here means there was some of the cost of the item returned to this economy directly in the form of wages, on-site building expenses, business taxes, or whatever else. I've been doing a lot of PC upgrading recently and went with PNY for most of my SSD drives (bought one Mushkin as well). They are both American companies and label the items as assembled here.

Sometimes it's hard to justify. I buy New Balance shoes, but their "made in the USA" line compared to their regular one is a big price jump. $150+ vs. around $60, but I might try a pair eventually to see if quality is any different (Edit: looks like the NB 577 is assembled in the USA and is around $75, not bad). Either way, it's an American company so some of the profits get funneled back to the USA.

 

[steakman1971]

This is great. I dunno, pretty sure we have made a mistake as a country by moving all the production to China. Yes, companies get more profits and we get stuff cheaper. However, what price did we pay?
In the 70's, wasn't most stuff made in the USA that we purchased? I remember the toy company Kenner used to be based in Cincinnati OH. I knew a few people that worked there in the factories producing toys. Not sure what the prices on these were compared to today, but my parents were not rich. I would not have received an expensive toy.
Beyond that, what happens if our relationship falls apart (further)? Can we still build planes, tanks, etc? What about silicon?

 

[DrDoU]

I have a lot of stuff in my house that I have bought in China.I guess I am supporting chairman MAO

 

[Krab]

We still produce a ton of things in this country. The stupid talking point that we don't make anything needs to die.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

American components, Russian components...ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!!!

 

[AceGoober]

The iPhone 6 series was released on September 19, 2014. Why is this issue being known now, 1 year and 9 months later? I find it difficult to believe some 'random Chinese company' is just now bringing the issue to light. Seems fishy to me and I'm not talking about the lakes and rivers in China...

 

[DocSavage]

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

As much money as Microsoft and Apple have, it'd be nice if they could move some manufacturing into the U.S. It'd make their price premiums worth it.

 

[5150Joker]

As much money as Microsoft and Apple have, it'd be nice if they could move some manufacturing into the U.S. It'd make their price premiums worth it.

Simple. Stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible. I gladly pay more to buy something made in the USA or with our allied countries.

Yeah everyone says that until they see a $1200 iPhone and then buy a cheaper Chinese import. Americans have this entitled attitude where they want their cake and to eat it too. Guess what? It doesn't work that way, you either get cheaply priced products at the cost of doing business with China or you give up these luxuries for overpaid American workers that want $20-40/hr + free healthcare to work an assembly line and pay $1200+ for the same $600 phone (which is already overpriced). Since the status quo remains, it's obvious which choice Americans want because at the end of the day, talk is cheap.

As for allied countries, we have NAFTA with Mexico and guys like Trump howl about how unfair it is and want to put up walls so I don't think that idea is particularly enticing to Americans either.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah everyone says that until they see a $1200 iPhone and then buy a cheaper Chinese import. Americans have this entitled attitude where they want their cake and to eat it too. Guess what? It doesn't work that way, you either get cheaply priced products at the cost of doing business with China or you give up these luxuries for overpaid American workers that want $20-40/hr + free healthcare to work an assembly line and pay $1200+ for the same $600 phone (which is already overpriced). Since the status quo remains, it's obvious which choice Americans want because at the end of the day, talk is cheap.

As for allied countries, we have NAFTA with Mexico and guys like Trump howl about how unfair it is and want to put up walls so I don't think that idea is particularly enticing to Americans either.

Yeah it's always thrown back at the consumer, but the reality is it's the companies who are trying to maximize profit, there are very few options for buying US sourced/made clothing for instance, and yes it can cost quite a bit more, the real selling point to the consumer is whether or not it actually lasts that much longer to make it worth it. I don't want cheaply manufactured Chinese crap level of quality in high priced "Hey this money is actually not being exported" US made goods, and in some instances yes that $100 Ikea bookshelf may not last as long as that $3500 Mahogany one made by the Amish but do I want that same style of furniture in my house for all of eternity? And so far that cheap Ikea made one is still going strong 10 years later..

 

[shiningarmor]

It's funny because i read that countries actually export their best product. Make sense.

So their homegrown goods must be even worse

 

[ymer]

lmao @ apple, trolled in their own way

 

[Vercinaigh]

That's why amdgamer said "when possible." Being at least assembled here means there was some of the cost of the item returned to this economy directly in the form of wages, on-site building expenses, business taxes, or whatever else. I've been doing a lot of PC upgrading recently and went with PNY for most of my SSD drives (bought one Mushkin as well). They are both American companies and label the items as assembled here.

Sometimes it's hard to justify. I buy New Balance shoes, but their "made in the USA" line compared to their regular one is a big price jump. $150+ vs. around $60, but I might try a pair eventually to see if quality is any different (Edit: looks like the NB 577 is assembled in the USA and is around $75, not bad). Either way, it's an American company so some of the profits get funneled back to the USA.

Cute and all, but that's like trying to bail battleship after a torpedo was shoved into it's portside with a spoon. the impact you're making to China or USA there is equal to saving a penny or two every month. In short, completely irrelevant, insignificant, and a write off nobody is going to care about. Wanna make a difference? Man up to those words on a real level, your life may suck but at least you'll have actually done something with these words. or, stop spouting them, pick one.

 

[Scottw]

Cute and all, but that's like trying to bail battleship after a torpedo was shoved into it's portside with a spoon. the impact you're making to China or USA there is equal to saving a penny or two every month. In short, completely irrelevant, insignificant, and a write off nobody is going to care about. Wanna make a difference? Man up to those words on a real level, your life may suck but at least you'll have actually done something with these words. or, stop spouting them, pick one.

Cute? Man up? Trying to make back handed insults won't help your argument. I don't disagree that we are in a massive trade deficit, though I don't think it's necessary to become a full on martyr. If you opinion is that small choices don't matter, fine, but I disagree.

Obviously, a single person's small individual purchases don't make that much of a difference on a balance sheet of a large business. It's a mindset and one that if thousands of people kept in mind, it would make a continuous difference on a macro level. There is a lot more gray area in a world economy than black and white. I don't expect everything I buy to be developed and made 100% here. I just want more done here and more to stay here. Buying an item with at least a percentage of either design, manufacturing, or corporate in the USA means someone here in one of those positions is making a wage here.

 

[chenw]

American components, Russian components...ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!!!

Were...

We are leaking industrial plants to China like we are avoiding the land like a plague....

Most came back with nothing. I am actually surprised that our great Terry Guo is still running the company, I thought he would have been ousted a long time ago,

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Those Chinese officials have got to quit eating that powdered deer penis...

 

[Skripka]

No, Chinese steal our product research and produce them cheaper. That simple. Do they actually design and produce their own stuff? Yeah, but it's usually pretty shitty.

Is it "stealing our product research"....when all our companies knowingly and willingly hire chinese manufacturing companies to offshore their goods production?

I suppose technically if you leave all your windows and door on your house wide open with a sign saying "stuff inside" out front it technically might be stealing....but come on. ALL these companies handed over all their documentation to chinese firms in order to undercut and then fire their American employees in order to increase the corporate bottom-line. The companies that whine about it, did it to themselves.

 

[Nukester]

Is it "stealing our product research"....when all our companies knowingly and willingly hire chinese manufacturing companies to offshore their goods production?

I suppose technically if you leave all your windows and door on your house wide open with a sign saying "stuff inside" out front it technically might be stealing....but come on. ALL these companies handed over all their documentation to chinese firms in order to undercut and then fire their American employees in order to increase the corporate bottom-line. The companies that whine about it, did it to themselves.

It's possible. Hell, anything is possible.

 

[Vercinaigh]

Cute? Man up? Trying to make back handed insults won't help your argument. I don't disagree that we are in a massive trade deficit, though I don't think it's necessary to become a full on martyr. If you opinion is that small choices don't matter, fine, but I disagree.

Obviously, a single person's small individual purchases don't make that much of a difference on a balance sheet of a large business. It's a mindset and one that if thousands of people kept in mind, it would make a continuous difference on a macro level. There is a lot more gray area in a world economy than black and white. I don't expect everything I buy to be developed and made 100% here. I just want more done here and more to stay here. Buying an item with at least a percentage of either design, manufacturing, or corporate in the USA means someone here in one of those positions is making a wage here.

Quite the sensitive one arn't you? And actually every person here, every person everyone here knows, and every one those people know, following that philosophy I had quoted and commented on, wouldn't make enough of a difference for even the accountants to notice or care. So again, it's cute and all, but it's very much a all or nothing ordeal, buy a TOTALLY in house made object, or at least, not Chinese in this stance I suppose, or you're literally pissing up a rope in hurricane force winds. Really all there is to it.

Or the US as a country needs to put some laws in place to deal with it, but what that would solve considering track record is questionable.

 

[Jim Kim]

Update: Apple's has responded to our request for comment, indicating that all current iPhones are still being sold in Beijing while the company appeals the order. The full statement:

"iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as well as iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE models are all available for sale today in China. We appealed an administrative order from a regional patent tribunal in Beijing last month and as a result the order has been stayed pending review by the Beijing IP Court." Report: iPhone 6 infringes on Chinese phone, sales in Beijing could be stopped [Updated]

In other words they got the envelopes

Envelopes stuffed with cash are being delivered to the proper Chinese government employees. Same as it ever was.

 

[westrock2000]

The iPhone 6 series was released on September 19, 2014. Why is this issue being known now, 1 year and 9 months later? I find it difficult to believe some 'random Chinese company' is just now bringing the issue to light. Seems fishy to me and I'm not talking about the lakes and rivers in China...

It's worth noting that this decision came 1-2 days after Obama had a "private" meeting with the Dalai Lama, which China warned could cause strain between US-China relations.

Just saying.

Obama meets with Dalai Lama, angering CHina - CNNPolitics.com

 

[wizdum]

Yeah everyone says that until they see a $1200 iPhone and then buy a cheaper Chinese import. Americans have this entitled attitude where they want their cake and to eat it too. Guess what? It doesn't work that way, you either get cheaply priced products at the cost of doing business with China or you give up these luxuries for overpaid American workers that want $20-40/hr + free healthcare to work an assembly line and pay $1200+ for the same $600 phone (which is already overpriced). Since the status quo remains, it's obvious which choice Americans want because at the end of the day, talk is cheap.

As for allied countries, we have NAFTA with Mexico and guys like Trump howl about how unfair it is and want to put up walls so I don't think that idea is particularly enticing to Americans either.

The $1200 iPhone wouldn't be a problem if wages in the US actually kept up with inflation. Cheap Chinese crap has been masking the fact that the average American is being paid peanuts when compared to wages 30 - 40 years ago.