Apple Inc, the US electronics giant, appeared in court in Shanghai on Wednesday, accused of intellectual property right infringement involving software used on "Siri", its intelligent digital assistant.

Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co, the developer of a voice technology called "Xiao i Robot", is alleging that the Apple assistant infringed its patent, in particular relating to "a type of instant messaging chat robot system".

Siri responds to a user's commands through voice recognition software.