Siri just might be 'gagged' soon if Apple continues to lose its patent case to a Chinese technology company that claims to have invented the voice recognition software used in iphones and ipads.

Apple lost the first round of the legal battle Tuesday after a Beijing court ruled in favor of Zhizhen Internet Technology, which holds a patent on a software that it claims to be similar to Apple's Siri.

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In its decision, the Beijing First Intermediate Court upheld the validity of Zhizhen's patent, which now paves the way for the Shanghai-based tech firm to sue Apple back over intellectual property rights infringement.

Apple said it was not aware of Zhizhen's patent when it implemented Siri on its mobile gadgets.

Apple said it will elevate the case to China's High court, insisting that it does not believe Siri is a copycat of Zhizhen's voice recognition software.

The iphone maker added that it is open to negotiations with Zhizhen, but the Chinese technology firm refused to comment on the case it just won.

Zhizhen has had a voice-controlled service called Xiao i Robot since 2003, which was used on text-based chats at the time, but later evolved into a voice-controlled software for cars and smartphones that allowed users to locate restaurants, look up stock prices and train schedules.

It applied for a patent on its voice-recognition service in 2004, which was granted two years later, in 2006.

In 2012, Apple announced that it was adding Mandarin and Cantonese to the list of international languages that Siri understands and speaks.

This prompted Zhizhen to file a case in June 2012 where it accused Apple of copying its patented voice recognition technology system.

Apple insisted that it uses a different system to power Siri and moved to sue both Zhizhen and China's patent authority, but the Beijing intermediate court trashed its argument and instead ruled in favor of the Chinese technology firm. 

TagsSiri lawsuit, Siri patent case, Zhizhen voice recognition technology