Chinese firm files USD1.43bn lawsuit against Apple in patent fight

Beijing

A Chinese Artificial Intelligence company on Monday filed a lawsuit against Apple for allegedly infringing on a patent related to a smart assistant similar to Siri.

The lawsuit by Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Company, known as Xiao-i, was filed in a Shanghai court.

The company demanded 10 billion yuan (approximately $1.43 billion) in damages from the iPhone maker.

In a LinkedIn post, the company asked Apple to stop "manufacturing, using, promising to sell, selling and importing products that infringe" on the patent.

If the company becomes successful, it could bar Apple from selling many of its products in China.

Xiao-i got a shot in the arm in June when China's Supreme Court ruled that its patent for the virtual assistant in China is valid, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to an old report in the Global Times, the patent battle between the two companies  goes back to 2012.

The Chinese company alleged that Apple's Siri voice-recognition technology infringed on its patent, while the iPhone maker asked China's top patent watchdog to invalidate the patent.

The Supreme Court ruling in June that the Chinese company's patent is valid did not mean a ban for Siri in China.

All eyes are now on the current lawsuit which could lead to an examination of whether the technology used  by the two companies are different or not.