The Week in China: Apple Faces Facetime Lawsuit and more

China is the second latest economy in the world, every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse!); but who's got the time?!  A weekly potpourri of ten reads that will make you look like a keen China observer during any conversation about China. This week: Craft beer, China's Olympic spending splurge, Apple's Facetime suit and more:

Apple Hit With Patent Lawsuit in China Over FaceTime
"Bu Lin, the lawyer representing Li, said on Wednesday his client noticed the alleged infringement after buying an iPhone in Zhenjiang during a business trip. He then filed the lawsuit. 'Apple's FaceTime is infringing on his patent,' Bu said, adding that they have yet to decide whether Apple should be asked to compensate for any damages. 'We just want them to stop with the infringement.'"
Related Reading: Apple's $60M iPad Deal Could Make China Trademark Nightmare Worse
Related Related Reading:Post-iPad, Apple's Snow Leopard and Siri Hit With Lawsuits In China

DreamWorks Opens Shanghai Outpost
'We'd like to promote Chinese-made animated films and show Chinese culture to the world through our films,' said Li Ruigang, chief executive officer of Oriental DreamWorks. The joint-venture studio plans to produce its first film in 2017. Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DWA, said previously that there are seven different proposals being considered for the film."
Related Reading: DreamWorks to make 'Kung Fu Panda 3' in China

Beijing & Shanghai Craft Brewers Team Up
"The burgeoning craft beer scene in China, which — like the country’s nascent wine industry — continues to grow as consumers develop an interest in higher-quality food and drinks, is set to take another step this month as Beijing’s Great Leap Brewing and Shanghai’s Boxing Cat Brewery release the Yunnan Amber, China’s first-ever craft beer collaboration. Jointly developed by Great Leap brewmaster and owner, Carl Setzer, and brewmaster Michael Jordan of the Boxing Cat Brewery, Yunnan Amber is meant to reflect the particularities of Beijing and Shanghai’s independent brewing scenes as well as the flavors of native Chinese ingredients not readily available elsewhere in the world."

Ford Bringing Cheaper Cars to China to Catch Up to GM and VW
"To address that gap, Ford is building an assembly plant in Hangzhou, slated for completion in 201, that will double Ford's output in the country to 1.2 million vehicles annually. Expanded production in China is crucial because locally-built autos are exempt from import duties that can add more than 25% to the price tag. Ford also will add three SUVs to its China lineup to cater to more upscale demand, Mr. Hinrichs said. SUVs are the fastest growing vehicle segment in China, with first-half sales gaining 32% vs. 7% for total passenger-vehicle deliveries."

Olympic fever boosts fitness clubs' business
"The enthusiasm of the new recruits, partly inspired by the Games, also provided inspiration for the clubs' marketing departments. In addition to the annual membership dues during the Olympics, clubs across Beijing also come up with various promotions to attract customers. 'For those who came to register for a year, we give away film tickets, the amount of which was the number of gold medals the Chinese athletes won the day before,' Zhang said."

Related Reading: Chinese Tourists Take The Gold In London Olympics Spending
Related Viewing: At top, China's Olympic gold medal swimmer Sun Yang celebrates with a new watch at Cartier.

Chinese Web Giant Tencent’s Qzone Social Network Hosts 150 Billion Photos
"Mobile photos now make up the majority of Qzone’s uploads at 53 percent. Point-and-shoots were behind 25 percent of images, while SLR cameras represented 22 percent. Though the number of photos on Qzone is impressive, it’s still presumably less than that of Facebook. Last August, Facebook revealed that it was seeing 100 million photo uploads a day. Some estimates put the company’s total at 100 billion last year."

Baidu Fires Four Over Content Deletion
"Baidu Inc. BIDU fired three employees suspected of taking payments to delete material from its website, a common form of misconduct on the Chinese Internet. Although the development is unlikely to have a major effect on the Chinese search giant, it offers a look into how Internet companies in China have struggled to keep up with the diffuse illegal practices that have accompanied the rapid growth of Internet use."

Samsung Conduct its Own Investigation on Child Labor Claims at Chinese Factory
Samsung has already sprung into action in response to accusations that its supplier is forcing underage children to work under harsh conditions. The Korean handset maker is sending a team to the HEG Electronics factory in Huizhou China this week, to conduct its own investigation. HEG Electronics, which makes DVD players and mobile phones for Samsung, has been accused by China Labor Watch of employing children under 16."

Reds Wine Star Rises in the East
"Lushang Group, a State-owned conglomerate in Shandong province, has already shipped 150,000 bottles of wine worth 400,000 euros back to China since it purchased the little-known Chateau de Gugat from a Swiss owner a year ago in the Blasimon region near Bordeaux. 'The production capacity of the chateau is about 220,000 to 250,000 bottles per year, which is far from meeting the demand at home.'"

Sina Exec: ‘We’re Frightened By Shift to Mobile Internet’
"As everyone knows, PC use in China is dropping as it’s replaced by mobile. Wang says that in terms of Weibo, PC use has dropped 13 percent over the past year even as mobile use has risen by 14 percent. This means that now 52 percent of Sina Weibo users are accessing the site from a mobile client, as compared to just 32 percent accessing from PCs. Those numbers shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone, but they have become sort of a big problem for Sina."