Our friends at Apple pride themselves on their keen understanding of China’s market, so maybe they weren’t surprised by a municipal tribunal’s injunction last month barring the sale of its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in Beijing. The injunction, which was made public late last week and is based on an alleged patent infringement involving the smartphones’ exterior design, has been suspended pending an appeal. But however the ultimate ruling goes, the episode is another sign that the American technology giant is in the regime’s crosshairs.

The case against Apple was brought by an obscure company called Shenzhen Baili, which doesn’t even have a website but appears to be another name for smartphone startup Digione. The Journal reported Friday that Chinese internet giant Baidu is Digione’s largest investor, and that Baidu founder Robin Li is a delegate with the regime’s political-advisory committee, suggesting some of the business and political interests at work.

Apple’s problems with Shenzhen Baili began last year, when it failed to rescind a patent Chinese regulators granted the startup for the exterior design of its 100C smartphone, which bears a passing resemblance to the iPhone 6. The ruling is in keeping with Chinese patent and trademark laws that tend to disadvantage multinationals, not least by allowing Chinese firms to register trademarks and technologies that are already in use outside the country. “Patent trolling” is also on the rise, with Chinese companies buying up overseas patents, even if they are of dubious quality.

This legal regime also explains another recent Chinese reversal for Apple, in which a Beijing court ruled last month that a Chinese company can use the “iPhone” name on its wallets and purses. In 2012 Apple paid $60 million to device-maker Proview to settle a suit over the iPad trademark in China, which the Hong Kong company claimed to have held since 2000.

In 2013 China’s state-run media identified Apple as one of the eight American “guardian warriors”—technology companies that have “seamlessly infiltrated China.” Beijing also forced Apple to close its iTunes Movies and iBooks services in April, seven months after they launched.