Apple sued by Chinese animation studio over pirated materials in apps

Apple is being sued by a state-run animation studio in China over apps that contain unlicensed material from the studio. Shanghai Animation Film Studio is seeking total damages of 3.3 million yuan, or $530,000. The studio says that Apple violated the copyright of 110 of their films, which resulted in siginificant financial losses for the studio. According to M.I.C. Gadget:

The studio found Apple selling pirated copies of their works back in July last year, causing huge economic losses to the company while bringing profits to Apple as well as the application developers. Allegedly, a Chinese court has accepted the case, but there’s no details on when the first hearing will be.

This is another in a recent string of legal problems for Apple in China. They previously lost a similar case regarding unauthorized distribution of a Chinese encyclopedia. Additionally, they have been sued by a company claiming that Siri violates one of their patents. Last year, they were ordered to pay Proview $60 million over the Chinese trademark for the iPad.

Source: Sina Tech, via M.I.C. Gadget

Joseph Keller

Joseph Keller is the former Editor in Chief of iMore. An Apple user for almost 20 years, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.