The design of Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is too similar to the 100C phone by Shenzhen Baili, and violates that company's patents, the Beijing Intellectual Property Office ruled on Friday.
The decision , and Apple may still be able to sell iPhone 6 models while it files an appeal, Bloomberg reported. The company is in fact said to have several means of fighting any possible sales ban, such as the Beijing Higher People's Court or the Supreme People's Court.
Apple didn't comment on the matter, but needs to appeal not just because of the prospect of losing sales in a major city, but the precedent such a ruling could have elsewhere in China. The company has already to try and quash the ruling, according to CRI.
The country has sometimes proven a tough battleground for Apple in terms of patents and trademarks. Just this year the company , and in 2012 it had to to settle a dispute over the "iPad" trademark. The company does in the region, however.
The point of the Baili case could become moot by the end of 2016. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have already largely been sidelined by Apple in favor of the iPhone 6s and the iPhone SE, and this fall the company is expected to launch that could bump the iPhone 6 series out of its product lineup.