A Chinese company that goes by the name "GooPhone," a mobile phone maker, has patented an iPhone-like design in China, reported GizChina.
This comes in the midst of Apple winning a landmark trail against the South Korean technology giant, Samsung, who were asked to pay over $1 billion in damages.
The Chinese company, GooPhone has based its GooPhone i5 on the leaked iPhone 5 prototype. GooPhone i5 runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich. It's powered by 1.4 Ghz Tegra processor, has a storage capacity of 1GB RAM. It's much larger than the iPhone 4S and has a 4-inch screen with retina display and resolution of 1280x720.
It also comes with a small dock connector and larger external speaker grills. The headphone jack is positioned to the bottom of the phone. It has 8 mega-pixel rear camera and has It has a price tag of $300.
The patent will affect Apple who now cannot sell the real iPhone 5. It will be interesting to see how Apple reacts to this.
Salvaging an iPhone is nothing new in China but getting a patent even before the release date, IS new.
GooPhone certainly will not be able to stand a chance in an American or a European court.
Earlier, Apple had to pay a Chinese company, ProView $60 million as Apple was accused of copying the name if "iPad." The courts in China are not known to be friendly to foreigners.
The company was established in 2011 and has 500 employees. They also sell knockoff of Samsung Galaxy.
GooPhone will be launching its phone in late September, while Apple is due to launch its new iPhone 5 on Sept. 12.
