Last week the company Apple registered a very surprising defeat in China, a court in Beijing won the case of a company called Shenzei Baili, accusing Apple of copying the design of its own smartphone called Baili 6C by launching the iPhone 100.
The decision took a lot of people by surprise, especially since the court decided that Apple can no longer sell iPhone 6 in the capital of China, the decision not being final, so it is not enforceable, so Apple can still sell its terminals in the capital of the largest countries on the planet.
Trying to find out more about Shenzei Baili, the American journalists discovered that this company is practically insolvent, it has not had any activity for almost 1 year, even though its lawyers claim that it continues to operate and intends to expand its claims against Apple.
Shenzen Baili is owned by a company called Digione, and the patent for the Baili 100C design was submitted to the Chinese authorities in the first part of 2014, precisely after the first sketches and components of the iPhone 6 began to appear, the Chinese being sure that they will be able to extract money from Apple with a suitable patent.
Phone calls to the company, Shenzhen Baili Marketing Services, ring unanswered. Its websites have been deleted. Visits to its three registered addresses found no company offices. In March 2014, Baili was granted a patent from Chinese regulators for a smartphone design that had curved edges and a rear camera in the left-hand corner. Leaked images of Apple's upcoming iPhone 6 floating online at the time showed a similar design — curved edges instead of the straight ones of previous iPhone models. There were also some similarities in button placement.
In September 2016, Digione accused Apple of copying its smartphone and filed a complaint with the Patent and Trademark Office of China, but its employees claim that it was all just an attempt to draw attention to the Baili smartphones that they proved to be a failure.
A year and a half later, Digione won an extremely important victory against those from Apple, but we are talking here about a decision made in the first instance, so it will take a very long time until a final decision is made, and Apple will be able to sell the iPhone 6 in Beijing in the meantime.
How did an almost extinct company manage to obtain such an important victory over Apple? For now, no one knows, but the mystery will be elucidated sooner or later.
