Xiaomi has long been accused of copying the look and feel of the iPhone. Here are a few examples.

As Xiaomi contemplates entering western markets, it will no doubt have a strategy in hand for dealing with more stringent intellectual property protections. The question is, will it change its stripes? Here’s the latest and greatest:

Xiaomi, like Alibaba, has a pretty mixed reputation in the market. Some joked Xiaomi should be renamed xiao tou, thief in Chinese, due to its long record of copying foreign innovation and design ideas – for example, Apple’s iPhone – and then selling such clones for incredibly low prices.

The most recent controversy followed Xiaomi’s decision to move beyond its cheap smartphone business, which established its reputation, and make and sell an air purifier, priced at a few hundred yuan.

Just weeks after Xiaomi launched its cheap air purifier, a Japanese electric fan maker claimed the design closely resembled its own product, according to Japanese media. Xiaomi denied the allegations, just as it did when challenged by fans of Apple about why its smartphone looked so similar to an iPhone.