Xiaomi banned from selling smartphones in India by High Court

New Delhi High Court has banned Xiaomi from selling, advertising, manufacturing or importing its devices in India in ex parte order.

The dragon from China has been tamed not due to spying accusations but due to Patents infringement.  New Delhi High Court today passed a ex parte order forbidding the Redmi maker from importing and selling its smartphones in India.  The High Court passed this order while hearing a case filed by Ericsson India against Xiaomi.

Patent violations

SpicyIP has reported that that the High Court’s order bars Xiaomi from selling, advertising, manufacturing or importing devices that infringe the SEPs (Standard, Essential Patents).  SpicyIP notes that the patents in question are Standard, Essential Patents (SEPs) which are subject to FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms. This order is enforceable as of today so Xiaomi will have to pull of its Redmi Note Phablet from websites where it is listed.

While hearing the case, the, the judge also directed the customs officials to stop the imports under the IPR Rules, 2007. Moreover, local commissioners too have been appointed to visit Xiaomi India offices to ensure the implementation of the order.  The ex parte order comes because Xiami allegedly ignored Ericsson’s repeated communications and to defend its case in the Delhi High Court.

Ericsson litigation

Ericsson has dragged Micromax, Gionee and Intex in addition to Xiaomi to court.  Micromax has already been asked by the High Court to pay a royalty of 1 percent on every device it sells for using the Swedish equipment maker’s patents on technologies that are essential to manufacture the products.

Xiaomi responds

Speaking to TOI Tech, Xiaomi India head Manu Jain informed that the company hasn’t officially received any communication from the court or Ericsson. He said that India was an important market for Xiaomi and that the company’s legal team was evaluating the situation based on reports in the media. Jain added that Xiaomi intends to be in full compliance of all laws and is open to working with Ericsson to settle the dispute.

This may spell of hiccup for the Chinese smartphone major in the rapidly growing Indian smartphone market.  Xiaomi has made quite a hype in the Indian smartphone scene with its ‘flash sales’ strategy where it put a limited edition of its Redmi brand of smartphone for sale on Flipkart for limited time.  Using this technique, Xiaomi has managed to spur the curiosity of Indian smartphone buyers as well as create a artificial scarcity but at the same time has managed to clock half a million in sales till October 2014.