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Apple Turns to Fangda Partners to Protect Its iPhone in China

Anna Zhang, The Asian Lawyer

June 27, 2016


Fangda Partners, a large China-based law firm headquartered in Shanghai with a strong intellectual property disputes practice, is representing Apple in its fight to reverse a recent ruling that threatens to ban sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Beijing.

In May, a Beijing court found that the two iPhone models infringed a design patent owned by Chinese phone maker Shenzhen Baili Marketing Service Co. That decision prompted the Beijing Intellectual Property Bureau—the local office of the State Intellectual Property Office, or SIPO—to order Apple and its distributors to stop selling both models in the Chinese capital. Represented by Fangda, Apple appealed. Now, the order has been stayed pending review by the Beijing intellectual property court, and the phones are still available for sale, according to the company.

Apple has been a longtime client of Fangda. The firm also has represented other multinational corporations, including InterDigital Communications Inc., San Jose-based chipmaker Power Integrations Inc., French cosmetics giant L’Oreal S.A., Finnish machinery company Cargotec Oy and petrochemicals maker Ineos USA.