Asia IP

Despite the war between Apple and Samsung, the US technology giant is suing Chinese government body for refusing to invalidate a patent similar to Siri, voice personal assistant software, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Apple had previously asked the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) to overtune a voice recognition patent developed by Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology, Xinhua reported.  Failure of the request led to the legal action against SIPO and the company.

Apple declined to comment to AFP, saying it does not comment on any ongoing litigation.

Zhizhen accused Apple last year of infringing its patent called “Mini i Robot” to develop Siri. The Shanghai company claimed that the patent was granted by SIPO in 2006.

The case has been heard in court, but no ruling has been announced.

Siri is an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator, operated on iOS system. The application was first introduced as a feature for iPhone 4S in 2011.