Apple on Saturday scored a judicial victory that could potentially turn into a watershed moment for company's copyright infringement battle in the Chinese smartphone market. A regional patent tribunal in Beijing has overturned last year's ruling that accused Apple of stealing the iPhone 6's design from a local Chinese phone manufacturer Shenzhen Baili, resulting in a subsequent ban on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the country.       

Like Us on Facebook

"The court "quashes the decision of the bureau" and "recognizes that Apple ... has not infringed the design patent filed by the company Shenzhen Baili," the People's Court Daily reported.

The court concluded that both phones (Apple's iPhone 6 and Baili's 100c smartphone) look "easily distinguishable in the eyes of consumers."

The judgment will come as a huge blow for the embattled Shenzhen Baili, which has been struggling even after it won the copyright infringement suit in May last year. The company's products are said to barely have a presence in the smartphone market and it is likely to exit the market in a matter of few months.

As for Apple, the judgment would not have any positive impact on its sales as such, since the sale of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have continued uninterrupted after it appealed against last year's judgment in a regional patent tribunal.

Nonetheless, Apple's victory is likely to be taken seriously by local Chinese manufacturers, which are notorious for filing copyright infringement cases against their big western rival companies. Analysts claim that copyright infringement has become sort of a powerful weapon for local manufacturers, which they often use it against big Western multinational corporations as they can't financially compete with them.      

Tagsapple, iPhone 6, Apple China, china