June and July appear to be unlucky months for Apple as the Cupertino-based tech giant faces one lawsuit after another in China.
After it was banned by a Chinese court to sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Beijing for allegedly violating the patent of a barely existing local company, a Chinese film production filed on Thursday a copyright infringement lawsuit, reported Global Times.
The production company, which is an affiliate of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, charged Apple and Heyi, another technology company based in Beijing that developed a mobile app for Youku, a video hosting website in China. It accused the two of breaching the right to broadcast the movie “Xuebo Dixiao” online which it has the exclusive right.
By Apple’s permitting its users to download and view the film using the Youku app, Youku HD, the production firm claimed it lost a lot of money and asked to be compensated 50,000 yuan.
Xu Xinming, a lawyer in Beijing whose expertise is intellectual property rights, said Heyi apparently violated the copyright but it may not necessarily be the case for Apple. He explained, “Apple, as a platform, is responsible for reviewing the qualifications of the applications in its Apple store” and should require from video app developers to give it legal documents that prove their right to screen videos is backed by the law.