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Monday, 3 August 2020

Apple Facing $1.4 Billion Lawsuit by Chinese AI Firm in Siri Patent Battle

Apple has been hit with a $1.4 billion lawsuit by a Chinese artificial intelligence company that alleges Apple violated a patent it owns for a virtual assistant similar to Siri, according to a paywalled Wall Street Journal report.

Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co. said in a statement on Monday it was suing Apple for an estimated 10 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) in damages in a Shanghai court, alleging the iPhone and iPad maker's products violated a patent the Chinese company owns for a virtual assistant whose technical architecture is similar to ‌Siri‌. ‌Siri‌, a voice-activated function in Apple's smartphones and laptops, allows users to dictate text messages or set alarms on their devices.

As part of the lawsuit, Shanghai Zhizhen, also known as Xiao-i, wants Apple to cease "manufacturing, using, promising to sell, selling, and importing" all products that it says infringe on the patent, which was ruled as valid by China's Supreme Court in late June.

Apple didn't immediately respond to WSJ's request for comment.

The patent ruling is the culmination of several court trials between Zhi Zhen and Apple that's been ongoing for nearly a decade. MacRumors first reported on the Chinese AI firm's claim that ‌Siri‌ infringes on its patent rights in March 2013. The claim is specifically in relation to Xiao-i, a chat robot system the Zhi Zhen has been developing since 2003.

The Xiao-i bot began life as a chat bot for MSN and similar networks, but it has since migrated to a number of platforms including Android and iOS, and evolved to look quite similar to ‌Siri‌. Zhi Zhen applied for the virtual assistant patent in 2004 and it was granted in 2009.

‌Siri‌ was acquired by Apple in April 2010 under the direction of Steve Jobs, but Apple's first notion of a digital personal assistant was originally a concept video in 1987, called the Knowledge Navigator.

Tags: Siri, China

This article, "Apple Facing $1.4 Billion Lawsuit by Chinese AI Firm in Siri Patent Battle" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Never Leave Your Charger at Home Again With This Cargo Backpack and Powerbank Combo for Just $20

Cargo Backpack With Powerbank | $20 | Meh

How Do People Actually 'Die From Old Age'?

Thousands are currently engaged in solving the problem of death. Maybe they’ll succeed, and out of sheer boredom I’ll reread this sentence when I’m 900 years old, reflecting fondly on the first wasted century of my life. In the meantime, billions are going to die—some from disease, some in freak accidents, and a…

Warren Buffett's Stake in Apple Tripled in Value to Over $100 Billion

Investor Warren Buffett's stake in Apple has tripled in value to be worth over $100 billion, reports BusinessInsider.

The Berkshire Hathaway CEO spent $35 billion to acquire 250 million Apple shares between 2016 and 2018, according to his 2019 shareholder letter. Buffett has since sold some of his Apple holdings, and at last count owned 245 million shares, worth more than $104 billion.

Apple's third-quarter earnings pushed its stock price up by 10 percent to an intraday all-time high of $425 on Friday, raising its market capitalization to more than $1.8 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company. Both revenue and earnings per share were also June quarter records.

Apple's stock price dropped as low as $224 in March as concerns rose over the global health crisis, but has experienced a strong recovery since then, rising by over 80 percent in the last four months. Many other large tech companies, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent company Alphabet, have experienced similar surges. Apple stock has increased by around 42% this year, growing Buffett's stake by $30 billion in the past seven months alone.

Apple is the largest investment held in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, and worth more than four times as much as its second-largest holding; a $25 billion stake in Bank of America. Berkshire Hathaway's market capitalization currently sits at about $476 billion, suggesting its 5.7% stake in Apple accounts for more than a fifth of its entire value.

The value of the firm's Apple stake relative to the rest of its portfolio highlights the extent to which investors are increasingly favoring tech companies and neglecting more traditional businesses such as banks and insurers.

Tags: AAPL, Berkshire Hathaway

This article, "Warren Buffett's Stake in Apple Tripled in Value to Over $100 Billion" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories https://ift.tt/3gqYVgF

Testing Czar Admits Covid-19 Tests Have 'Limited Utility' When Pandemic Is Out of Control

The person overseeing America’s national covid-19 testing strategy, Adm. Brett Giroir, admitted on Sunday that tests and contact tracing are of “limited utility” when an outbreak of disease is raging in a completely uncontrolled manner. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic is completely out of control in the vast…