According to a Gizchina. com report, coming days ahead of the expected September 12 unveiling of the much-awaited Apple iPhone 5, Chinese company GooPhone has recently announced the release of its iPhone 5 knockoff – the GooPhone i5 – and has revealed that it has already patented its handset in China.

As per the report, GooPhone said in a video that in case the forthcoming Apple iPhone 5 is similar in appearance to its GooPhone i5, the company will go all out to prevent Apple from selling its new handset in the Chinese market.

With the laws in China protecting the design patents on the ‘first-come-first-served’ basis, GooPhone said that any similarity of the iPhone 5 with the GooPhone i5 will prompt it to take legal action against Apple.

The $300-priced GooPhone knockoff appears to be quite a close imitation of the forthcoming iPhone 5, especially with its reported 4-inch display, and a smaller dock connector --- two notable features which are widely expected in Apple’s upcoming handset!

Meanwhile, about the patent mess which the knockoffs lead to, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a Thursday-released paper that the understanding of China’s ‘first to file’ system has made “trademark squatting” a big business for Chinese companies.

The Chamber further elaborated in the paper that knockoff Chinese companies “pre-emptively” file the potential, unregistered foreign trademarks in their name, with the key objective of “blocking the possible entry of the original trademark owner in the Chinese market.”