An administrative case involving the popular technology giant, Apple, will be heard at Beijing High People's Court on Thursday afternoon.

The case traces back to a patent dispute between Apple and a technology company in Shanghai.

The Shanghai-based company claimed in a suit that Apple's Siri, a digital assistant that responds to voice commands on iPhones, was similar to its intelligent robot, which received a patent in 2004. Siri became available in China in 2010 and became popular.

As the patent case was not resolved, Apple sued the State Intellectual Property Office, asking it to rule the robot's patent invalid.

However, the authority later reviewed the patent and said it was valid, which was upheld by the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court at a first hearing in July.

Apple appealed to the high people's court, and the second hearing will began at 2 pm Thursday.

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