Meizu M8 hits the Chinese patent office, top of the irony meter

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Given the Meizu M8's not-so-faint resemblance to another semi-famous handheld, you'd think trying to get a patent on the design would be fairly fruitless -- but it looks like the company's giving it a shot anyway. This Chinese patent app was apparently filed last February, but China's patent office just published it on the 16th, so we're not even certain which bad render, doctored photo, or cardboard mockup of the M8 is referenced within. Still, Jack Wong had better get his lawyers in gear and get this patent on the books -- Apple might be slow in getting to China, but it's not going to be happy once it does.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jan 21st 2008 6:47PM]

I might as well buy it if it's cheaper than the iphone. I'm going broke here.

[sk8rpro @ Jan 21st 2008 6:53PM]

I know what you mean. The last 20 dollars I spent was on the Touch, just to keep it up-to-date. Now I'm starting to feel broke.

It's hard to keep up to date with Apple!

[Mke @ Jan 21st 2008 7:20PM]

Don't be a traitor and support China. Buy a Nokia, Samsung... ANYTHING!!!

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Jan 21st 2008 7:21PM]

— The last reports I read put the M8 well above the price of the iPhone.

— Do Chinese patents typically have English in them? (eg: "FRONT VIEW" and "3D VIEW")

[James Cameron @ Jan 21st 2008 10:15PM]

I mean too bad for Apple. They didn't really went all out and give what the people want with the iphone. They could have but they didn't. I don't care if the Meizu is a total copy of the iphone. I don't give a crab. It's not like I'm receiving money from Apple. If Meizu is turn out to be a better product, I'm all for it. May the best product win.

Same thing can be said about a video card. If some company can take an exact copy of the Nvidia 8800 and make it better, they'll have my money. Same thing with a monitor, tv toilet ect...

[SteveMB @ Jan 21st 2008 10:38PM]

Bender, where did you read this? The 16GB will go for $400.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jan 21st 2008 10:54PM]

tv toilet? not proper use in comas ;)

[Jeff @ Jan 21st 2008 11:07PM]

@Mke

If anything on that computer you are typing on right now says "Made in China", you are now a hypocrite.

[tekdemon @ Jan 21st 2008 6:51PM]

Uh...if it was filed last february, doesn't that defeat your entire article's claim of irony? I mean back in February '07 most of the iPhone mockups and rumors looked nothing like the final product.

Of course, Meizu might have had better spies, but unless you have proof that they already knew what the iPhone was going to look like...this story is kind of pointless, no?

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jan 21st 2008 6:52PM]

mac world announcment of the iphone was in jan. BEFORE Feb. Idiot.

[derX @ Jan 21st 2008 7:30PM]

Wow, was calling tekdemon (I like that name, btw) an idiot really called for? When I read the post, I gathered that tekdemon was saying the iPhone's announcement and the alleged patent filing were soo close together, that he thought it unlikely that Meizu could have whipped up a patent app that soon if it were truly a copy.

----------
And if you are going to call someone an idiot, get your spelling and grammar on point.


Is it that hard to play nice?

[Iain @ Jan 22nd 2008 12:09AM]

@CUBSWILLWIN: asshole troll trumps idiot every time.
Congratulations, you win(!)

[ilh @ Jan 22nd 2008 5:00AM]

3rd time lucky, crap commenting system.

The Meizu M8 was announced in Decemeber 06 at the latest. BEFORE January. Idiot.

[Azayzel @ Jan 22nd 2008 9:15AM]

I think the irony in this article is that Engadget sees iPhones in all PDA patent requests. Why don't we roll back time before the iPhone and compare how much it looks like an HP iPaq?

Now if the company tries to roll off a patent for some novel idea that's already been patented; i.e., not some simple generic design sans buttons, then you can cry foul. Or if the device exactly mimics another company's design (exactly should be underlined and similarities don't count when something is as lacking in physical features as a PDA w/ only a button or two.)

[Jeff @ Jan 21st 2008 6:52PM]

Big screen touch screen...check
Cellphone...check

Most DEFINATELY a copy of the iPhone. Regardless of when it was patented.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jan 21st 2008 6:53PM]

fanboy.

[derX @ Jan 21st 2008 6:58PM]

Err, I am going to half agree with you on that one. Just because it is a cell phone with a large touchscreen does not make it an iPhone copy.

By virtue of it looking exactly like an iPhone makes it an iPhone copy. And yes, I've heard it many times, "It's a phone with a touch screen for the sole source of input, how different can they possibly look?" Yeah, well, let's not forget about the pocket pcs; they, too, were phones with touch screens for the sole source of input and they managed to look awfully different.

[Tinu @ Jan 21st 2008 7:34PM]

I think he was being sarcastic.

[Jeff @ Jan 21st 2008 7:46PM]

Did someone remove the sarcastic entry from Engadget's database? Geez~

[broli @ Jan 21st 2008 6:55PM]

Could this news update be anymore subjective, geez. No wonder your whole frigging population is brainwashed.

[Ignacio @ Jan 21st 2008 7:05PM]

Engadget has a population?

[derX @ Jan 21st 2008 7:16PM]

We not brainwashed. We praise Apple.

*prays to MacBook*




*posted from a computer running XP

[AlexL @ Jan 21st 2008 7:46PM]

Do Pocket PCs look any different from an iPhone? The iPhone is slimmer and has fewer buttons than the average Pocket PC, but those aren't really design choices, they are more or less technological limitations. Pocket PCs don't have multitouch so they provided the user with a D-pad. If in the future other Pocket PCs start to have multitouch and does away with the D-pad they will look almost identical to the iPhone: not because of trying to copy it, but because there really is no other way to make a phone with a large screen as the only source of input.

[roulette843 @ Jan 21st 2008 7:00PM]

Trying to get a patent on [an Apple] design would be fruitless.
Haha. Nice pun.

[John @ Jan 21st 2008 7:06PM]

I really don't think the look of the hardware makes it an iPhone clone - the software does. For hardware though, it's always going to be rectangular, as thin as possible, with rounded corners. A touchscreen instead of a keyboard, so the only real button technically needed is a power button. Then you have to have the actual phone parts, which have to go on top and bottom.

Let's be honest, while they may be copying the iPhone's software like thieving weasels, they're just following smart hardware design... same as Apple did. And Apple does not have THAT patented.

[jbhitter24 @ Jan 21st 2008 7:15PM]

i doubt thats even the final interface anyway. i had read it was going to have winmo on it. even if it doesn't i'm sure there will be plenty of non-iphone skins in due time.

[SteveMB @ Jan 21st 2008 10:42PM]

jbhitter is right, it is going to have Windows CE on it. Much support for third party apps, out of the box.

[ray @ Jan 22nd 2008 1:38AM]

the interface is not a copy, because what cellphone doesn't have ordered icons? NOKIA does, SE does, apple just made the icons a bit larger than usual.

[XR @ Jan 21st 2008 7:16PM]

I want to buy one, just to have one of these. It will be THE landmark case regarding Chinese copies.

I honestly think this is just a very elaborate joke being pulled of by Apple. At the end, it will be, "Upon further review, we have decided to halt production of our phone and direct all our customers to the most advanced phone in the market, Apple's iPhone." Like Apple was doing this all along. Maybe this is really iPhone 2? I kid, I kid....

[Eric YJ Chiu @ Jan 21st 2008 7:29PM]

Again i just fockin hate Meizu. Called them up for business enquires 6 months ago, answers were full of lies and don't-knows.

I don't know why Engadget has its particular interest in this Keep-it-real-fake manufactuer, just like the god damn Optimus / Optomas / Otopus keyboard(didnt even bother to read its name).

[Kizorblade @ Jan 21st 2008 7:59PM]

Sometimes it's funny. However I don't understand what morals they have, stealing a UI and the innovation behind it.

[James Cameron @ Jan 21st 2008 9:56PM]

Sound like a bitter baby. Isn't you the one that's been trying to get a deal with them?

[James Cameron @ Jan 21st 2008 9:59PM]

I meant Aren't not "isn't". Damn, we need edit button.

[Eric YJ Chiu @ Jan 22nd 2008 2:22AM]

6 months ago I was still a student. was trying to get my dissertation some evidence for intellectual property issues.

[Mr Corsini @ Jan 21st 2008 7:40PM]

hmmm seems you have done no research. Meizu's CEO Jack Wong offically announced a couple of weeks ago that the Meizu M8 will make it's first public appearence at CEBIT in germany from March the 4th-9th. Lets all reserve judgement for then and see what they come with, i'm hoping to be pleasently suprised.

[af241 @ Jan 22nd 2008 1:18AM]

man you're late

[rupaniii @ Jan 21st 2008 8:05PM]

Put Android on it.

[karmaghost @ Jan 21st 2008 8:19PM]

I'm not really defending the M8 here, but let's be honest; the iPhone is a rectangle with rounded corners. It has a touch screen on the entire front of that rectangle. iPods are the same way; it's hard to get much simpler than rectangles with screens and a circle for UI input below.

[luke holder @ Jan 21st 2008 8:43PM]

Has any of you guys ever even used a meizu? they are a high quality product, can play OPEN codecs and are beautifully designed. you american supremists think everything awesome comes from america, and make out like asia can only ever ride your tails. maybe they are making a better product than the iphone?

[Kizorblade @ Jan 21st 2008 9:17PM]

Please. Look at the UI. Now compare it with the iPhone. They're almost exactly the same.
And I don't live in America by the way, I live in Asia too.
I do know that China's products are in general, well made. However it is innovation that ushers in new technologies, design ect. without it you are stuck with constant look a-likes with no progress.

And I'm afraid I don't see that in China at the moment. All I see are cheap knock-offs with the only thought going into it being "Let's see how we can change things a bit" (M8 and the iPhone)

However, I do feel that China does have the potential to become more then a country that is known for it's cheap labor and more of something that innovates.

[SteveMB @ Jan 21st 2008 10:46PM]

Kizor, the hardware in these phones are two different animals. The hardware (on paper) is better in the Meizu. Also, the iPhone is copying my Palm's interface with square buttons.

[helloUser @ Jan 21st 2008 8:28PM]

I didnt know engadget was still posting stories about random phones that appaently look like an iphone. The next product apple releases that isnt part of their market, I expect engadget to start posting stories about all future products in the same market that are going to 'iWhatever' knockoffs, no matter how little resemblance there is.

[Carl Vitullo @ Jan 21st 2008 8:39PM]

i like how no one cares that almost all phones of the same style look alike, only ones that look like the iphone.
most flip phones look the same, most candy bar phones look the same, and most touchscreen phones are big rectangles with rounded corners.

although i'm sick of people copying the UI.

[len @ Jan 21st 2008 8:58PM]

Geezus, you people bitch like queens wagging their fingers at knock-off purses.

[4honor @ Jan 21st 2008 10:30PM]

Just come out with it already! I wanna buy!!!

[FdUpCanuck @ Jan 24th 2008 7:16PM]

Brilliant!! I haven't laughed this hard in ages.
Thanks to everyone!

[macserv @ Jan 22nd 2008 4:14AM]

They've already axed the camera on the front, and thickened it up significantly. This is definitely old.