It’s more trouble from China for Apple. As if the long battle with Proview over iPad trademark and the recent hurdle about snow leopard trademark claim are not sufficient yet another Chinese software company Zhizhen Network Technology has filed a case against Apple for infringing Xiaoi Bot built by them.
According to a report from M.I.C. Gadget, the new lawsuit was first filed on June 26 and claims Apple’s Siri voice assistant infringes on the “ZL200410053749.9? patent for “a type of instant messaging chat bot system” Xiaoi Bot, the icon also looks strikingly similar to SIRI.
Xioaoi bot has been implemented in China by Microsoft’s MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and Shanghai Expo’s Dr Haibao among others. It was launched as an Android only software starting with Lenovo Android Smart TV.
It is reported that Apple was contacted by Ziezhen in may but there was no response from Apple. Check the video demonstration of Xiaoi Bot below.