A subsidiary of the Chinese media broadcasting regulator open cases against the Cupertino giant Apple in China in the last weeks for showing the war film from the 1990s, a film shot more than 20 years ago.

China Sues Apple For Showing War Film From 1990s

Apple was sued by a subsidiary of the Chinese media broadcasting regulator, since the Cupertino company offered promotion of a film shot more than 20 years ago, in a legal conflict which joins other open cases against the technology giant Apple in China.

According to the Beijing court “The case was opened at the request of a production that accuses Apple of violating its exclusive rights to broadcast the film on the internet”. As the film deals with Chinese citizens fighting against Japanese troops in northern China in the early 1930s.

As well as the applicant also sued the developer and operator of the application Youku HD, available in the Apple App Store, which it accuses of enabling users to see the movie, causing “huge economic losses”.

The applicant claims that Apple has violated its exclusive rights to offer online “Xuebo dixiao”, which translates roughly as “Bloody battle with the fierce enemy,” which was released in 1994.

The production center also sues the developer and the operator of the application Youku HD app “Heyi Information and Technology (Beijing) Company Ltd.”, said the court in an online statement on Thursday. Youku’s website is one of the most popular website available in China for playing and streaming online movies and TV shows. As, it is owned by Youku Tudou Inc., which also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The court said that “The plaintiff wants the two companies immediately halt the spread of the film and claims the payment of compensation of 50,000 yuan ($ 7,500), in addition to its “reasonable expenses” of 20.158 yuan ($3,000) in try to stop violation of their rights”.

Apple spokespeople did not respond to the requests on Saturday, as well as the spokesman for Youku Tudou Inc. also could not comment at first. Hence, the tech giant Apple Inc. has faced problems and legal obstacles in China.

Hence, after the order from the Chinese regulator, Apple suspended all its iBooks, Movies and iTunes services in April. In May, a court of intellectual property in Beijing ordered Apple to stop selling its mobile iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the city, after determining that are too similar to a model made by a small Chinese firm.

But, the sales of Apple devices continue while appealing the order. Also that month, Apple suffered another setback when a court ruled that a Chinese company can use the iPhone trademark in handbags, wallets and other leather goods.

Tushar Subhra Dutta
Tushar Subhra Dutta is a content writer at Tech Viral. As, he writes about Technology, Science, Gadgets, Hacking & Security, Social Media and much more.