Apple is being sued by a subsidiary of China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) for “huge economic losses” allegedly caused by online streaming of a war propoganda film that first aired in 1994. SAPPRFT is also suing streaming service Youku Tudou, which is the company that actually streamed the film in question. Heyi Information and Technology, developers of the Youku HD app, is also named in the suit.
The lawsuit, filed in the People’s Court in Haidian, accuses Apple of enabling the illegal streaming of the film, “Xuebo dixiao,” which loosely translates to “Bloody Fight with the Fierce Enemy.” The film was produced by the Movie Satellite Channel Program Production Center, and is set in the 1930s during Japan’s invasion and occupation of Manchuria.
The lawsuit seeks 50,00 yuan (around $7,500 USD), and also ask that Youku HD be require to put an end to the streaming of the movie. SAPPRFT is also seeking an additional 20,158 yuan for “reasonable expenditures” connected to the case.
The new lawsuit is just the latest in a continuing chain of legal battles Apple has been facing in China. The company is a popular target for patent infringement suits in the country, due to how the country’s patent and trademarking laws are written.
Apple recently lost exclusive rights to the “iPhone” trademark, following a Chinese court’s ruling in favor of a leather case maker. That company had registered the trademark in 2007, the same year the smartphone by the same name launched, and five years after Apple had filed to register the name as an electronic product.
June saw Apple hit by a ruling from a Chinese court that found it in violation of design patents owned by a Chinese handset maker Baili, a company that is all but out of business, who claimed the iPhone 6 violated its design patents.
Apple also has faced issues form the Chinese government, as April saw the company’s iTunes Movies and iBooks stores shutdown in mainland China, which was ordered by China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
(Via AppleInsider)
