I live in China. A friend of mine was recently assaulted in a bar. Family of the perpetrator came to the hospital with the policeman assigned to the case and pressured my friend to accept money in lieu of pressing charges. Depending on how much 'guanxi' the perpetrators family have, if he does press charges, documents and evidence may get 'lost' and my friends employer could get in trouble with the local government, lose it's license etc. Although I can't talk about patent law, I know there are really no 'laws' in the city I live in - everything is negotiable and rests on how much you can spend and what your standing is with government officials. I love living here, but China is a mafia state.
Your friend's assault case - he's not a multi-billion dollar company with a massive investment in the mainland.
Chinese consumers don't simply love him, like they do Apple products. (First-hand experience.)
I notice the Goophone people are based in Hong Kong where the rule of law is quite a bit stronger.
Apple have the money, they have the relationships. This whole thing is clearly grandstanding on the Goophone people's part.
I am willing to put cash money on the line to say it's inconsequential to Apple launching the iPhone 5 on the mainland. There will be a delay - the usual delay for Apple products that mainland China experiences and nothing to do with this knockoff junk.
If money and relationships come first you're suggesting that this other company has more money than Apple? Or indeed more clout (given how big a client of Foxconn, the largest private employer in China, it is)?
Don't be too sure. In Apple vs. Samsung, one of the allegedly infringing phones was dropped from the case. You see, it had been made prior to Apple's patent. I believe that they were also unable to inform the jury of that for whatever reason.
