The court has told Apple to stop flogging the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus after ruling that the smartphones copied the design of a handset made by an outfit called Baili.The Beijing Intellectual Property Office ruled this week that Apple and its Chinese distributor Zhongfu Telecom infringed the patent of Shenzhen-based Baili. Baili is suing Apple for copying the design of its 100C smartphone.

According to the ruling the smartphones are so similar that users can’t tell the difference – until they see the price tag of course. The Tame Apple Press is fuming claiming that the 100C looks like every other Android smartphone on the market and they all copied Apple.

The court disagreed saying that Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have minor differences from Baili's 100C. The differences are so tiny that the average customer could not notice. So this case falls into the patent rights protection category.

Baili won an injunction that could have forced Apple to remove the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus from the shelves in China. Apple has appealed against the ruling in a higher court, which allows the firm to continue selling the iPhone 6 line until that court makes a decision on the case.

Things have not been going well for Jobs’ Mob behind the bamboo curtain. Its Apple's iTunes Movies and iBooks Store have been banned and its iPhone sales have not been going well. Apple had hoped that sales in the massive Chinese market might save its bacon. Had Apple not done this itself with the whole "rounded rectangle" case, we might have been more sympathetic.