For those that didn't know, a couple months before the release of the iPhone 5 in 2012 a Chinese mobile phone company released the
Goophone i5S with an Android platform. The problem was, it looked just like the new iPhone 5. With its mobile devices as well as other products all manufactured in China, Apple has had much trouble dealing with shameless knock-off Chinese devices. Now they are officially collecting patents for its products in Hong Kong to prevent future Goophones.
Along with six design patents including Siri, Notes, and iMessage, Apple has also been granted patents for its Macbook Pro design. While utility patents are just as important, design patents can often be make or break the market because the look and feel of the device is what the users experience first. Apple should have made these investments sooner knowing the notorious Chinese knock-off market.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57564023-37/apple-wins-six-design-patents-in-hong-kong-for-ios-icons/
I guess, the biggest problem here is discrepancy between patent laws in China and the US, and necessity to file patents in both - if going after international market.
ReplyDeleteI also think that design patents have to do with the brand perception. The way Iphone is built - creates an association with Apple brand, and copying design of an Iphone is a direct damage to Apple's brand.
Often Apple’s legal debates seem so centred around the US and California, especially in regards to Samsung, that it’s easy to forget that Apple is a truly global organisation and that patent problems emerge all over the world. An excellent example is Apple's current struggle in China.
ReplyDeleteI find it extremely frustrating that our international patent system is not more uniform and standardized across the board. Products are used internationally, no boundaries stopping them. Patents should not change from company to company in country to country for the same product. Clearly, only one of the companies was the first one to invent such a product. If this is the case, a person can daily acquire patents in China or another country that are being granted in the US--another form of a patent troll in the making.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame that leniency of foreign laws cause so many problems for inventors and even big corporations for that matter. The knockoff market is hitting inventors hard and preventing them from earning their rightful money.
ReplyDeleteI just want to add that Hong Kong doesn't have their own patent system. They sure have IP laws but all they will do is to find guidelines from the UK and China patent systems and register the patent according to that. But Apple is still doing good in China, and this kind of cheap products shouldn't hurt Apple's sales in China.
ReplyDeleteGoophone i5Swith an Android platform! Its incredible how far companies will go to emulate successful ideas. Given that much of the chinese population has not been fully exposed to Apple as a brand, I can see how this kind of knock off product would be accepted without question.
ReplyDeleteInternational patent law is always a tricky situation to navigate especially if a country isn't honoring another countries laws or has a different procedure for themselves set up.
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