Beijing has ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China’s capital, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The city’s intellectual property regulator has ruled that the design of the two phones is overly similar to another phone, the 100C, made by the Chinese company Shenzhen Baili. In a statement, the Beijing Intellectual Property Bureau wrote that the phones infringe on a Chinese patent for exterior design held by Shenzhen Baili.
“Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have minor differences from Baili’s 100C. The differences are so tiny that the average customer could not notice. So, this case falls into the patent rights protection category,” the ruling reads.
Bizarrely, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, which have identical exteriors and are also available, are not affected by the ruling. The two phones which are barred from sale were first released in 2014, and will likely be pulled from markets worldwide anyway in September 2016 when Apple is expected to announce the iPhones 7.
In a statement, Apple said: “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.”
The move to bar the company from selling the iPhones comes just a month after Apple announced a $1bn investment in Chinese Uber competitor Didi. The move, unusual for a company which tends to only invest in firms in order to acquire them, was though to be a goodwill gesture to the Chinese markets and government, to curry favour with regulators typically seen as hostile to Apple.
It came after China shut down Apple’s iTunes Movies and iBooks services, and also lost a trademark battle over whether or not a luxury goods manufacturer could use the iPhone brand on handbags.
The investment does not seem to have worked as planned.
