A SHENZHEN resident lost a lawsuit he brought against Smartisan, a Beijing-based technology company, for the false advertising of its T1 smartphone, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

    Li Zhongqiu, a programmer in Shenzhen, bought a T1 smartphone online for 2,480 yuan (US$360) Oct. 30, 2014. Li was surprised to find that many apps on the phone couldn’t be deleted, even though Smartisan’s founder, Luo Yonghao, said all of the preinstalled apps on the phone could be deleted during the launch event of the T1 in May 2014.

    Li said after the company updated the smartphone’s system in September 2015, it added one more built-in app that couldn’t be deleted from the phone, which contradicted what the company had promised.

    He decided to sue the company for commercial fraud as he failed to settle the dispute with it.

    The case was heard at Nanshan District People’s Court in June last year. Li requested that the company refund him 2,480 yuan and compensate him 7,440 yuan. He said that many preinstalled apps on the T1 smart phone couldn’t be deleted, while the company had promised the opposite, which should be deemed as false advertising.

    Besides, Li said the smartphone lacked two features that Luo had mentioned in a press conference in 2013, which should be deemed as dishonest practices.

    According to the Nanshan District People’s Court, the company actually referred to third-party apps when it promised “all of its preinstalled apps can be deleted,” while other apps providing basic functions for the phone, such as the alarm clock, email and note-taking apps, are not third-party apps that could be deleted.

    The court ruled that Smartisan’s practices did not constitute commercial fraud.

    Additionally, the two features Luo mentioned were features of the smartphone’s system instead of features of the smartphone. As the company was willing to give Li a refund for the phone, the court ordered Li to return the phone to the company and the company was ordered to refund him the 2,480 yuan. However, the court rejected Li’s other requests.

    Li appealed to Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. But the court rejected his appeal and upheld the previous ruling.

    Li said that he accepted the court’s final ruling. He said Monday that he would donate the refunded money to Smartisan’s charity foundation. (Zhang Yang)