A Chinese company claims Apple copied the iPhone 6’s design from one of its phones

Isn’t this a funny case of role reversal. Normally when design infringement is related to Apple it’s because somebody has taken its design for their own purposes. In this case Digione is claiming that Apple took the design from the 100 + V6 and used it for the iPhone 6.

Just looking at the the phone in question and you can definitely see a phone that looks remarkably like an iPhone 6. The shape, size, and button layout all scream iPhone. Apparently Digione was granted a patent by China’s State Intellectual Property Office back in July, and claims to have sent Apple a letter back in September to inform it of possible infringement. That communication supposedly went unanswered.

To try and force Apple to respond, Digione has gone and published the original letter online. It doesn’t appear that the company is planning on suing Apple but it is hoping for “communication with goodwill would contribute to solving potential legal disputes.”

It’s not overly clear how much basis these claims would have in court anyway since the iPhone 6 is definitely following the same basic iPhone design that has existed for years. It just happens to be a thinner version with a couple of rearranged buttons. Plus what with all the leaks that happened (mostly from China I might add), it is certainly possible that Digione went ahead and copied one of the rumoured designs ahead of time.

We don’t really know, and the only way to have any clear way of finding out would be if the two companies went to court to settle this dispute-that-isn’t-really-a-dispute. I can imagine how angry Jony Ive is probably feeling right now, though.