Beijing court overturns ruling that iPhone 6, 6 Plus violated design patents

A Beijing court has overturned a previous decision that Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus infringed on the patent rights of Chinese company Baili, the South China Morning Post reports. Last May the Beijing Intellectual Property Office ruled in favor of Baili’s claim that the iPhones copied the design of that company’s 100C smartphone, but Apple was allowed to continue selling the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus while the appeal worked through the courts. On Friday, Beijing’s Intellectual Property Court ruled that the iPhone 6 has features that “completely change the effect of the entire product … and both phones are easily distinguishable in the eyes of consumers.” Since filing the lawsuit against Apple in 2014, Baili has completely collapsed, with phone calls to the company ringing unanswered, the company’s websites gone and visits to its registered addresses turning up no company offices. [via 9to5Mac]

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Dan Pye was a news editor at iLounge. He's been involved with technology his whole life, and started writing about it in 2009. He's written about everything from iPhone and iPad cases to Apple TV accessories.