Xiaomi uses licensed Qualcomm chipset-based devices.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: In a sigh of relief for the estranged Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, the Delhi High court today granted it permission to sell Qualcomm chipset-based devices in India until January 8.
Earlier, the Delhi High court had banned Xiaomi and its online retail partner in India, Flipkart, from importing, selling and advertising Xiaomi products until January. This, after the Swedish technology company Ericsson accused it of violating essential standard patent law.
The new “pro term order†was passed by the Delhi High court bench consisting of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog after noting that Ericsson concealed the fact that Xiaomi, in some of the devices, used chipset of Qualcomm, which has already got licence.
Xiaomi is a new smartphone company in India but, the firm is currently the biggest smartphone seller in China and is the third biggest manufacturer in the world. In less than three years into the smartphone business, Xiaomi has already gained the name China’s Apple.
The interim order of December 8 had prohibited Xiaomi and Flipkart from conducting flash sales that usually happen on every other Tuesdays.
Xiaomi was represented in the court by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Ajit Warrier who told that more than 1 lakh smartphones got sold through the flash sales every Tuesday, hence a pro term or a temporary order be passed.
The court after checking the merits of the case ruled Xiaomi to deposit Rs 100 per handset for sold in India towards the royalty charge, that too in favour of Registrar General of the Delhi High Court via a fixed deposit.
With the passing of the “Pro term order†the court has annulled the case filed by Xiaomi challenging the single bench order of the High Court passed on Dec 8.
The new order also directs Xiaomi to furnish an affidavit to the single bench during its next hearing, revealing the number of smartphones sold and the details of the Qualcomm chipsets purchased by it.
In the appeal filed by Xiaomi, it has accused Ericsson of not disclosing to the court details regarding the Qualcomm based smartphones that have already got patent licence from the Swedish company. According to Xiaomi it is in no violation of the patent rules as the Qualcomm has already got a patent from Ericsson for its technologies.
After hearing the grievances of Ericsson on December 8th, the Delhi High Court had advised the customs department to ban the import of Xiaomi devices.
The technologies that are in contention pertain to the GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA which needs a Standard Essential Patent (SEP) from Ericsson as it currently owns these technologies. It is necessary for all companies to have a SEP of the core technology used for creating a new technical standard.
The new Pro term order will now allow Xiaomi to sell the 4G LTE version of Redmi Note as it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor that passes the patent law. It is expected that Xiaomi will soon begin the sales of the Redmi Note 4G via Flipkart and as reported earlier through Airtel Stores located in major cities.
Hugo Barra, the vice president of Xiaomi wrote in a letter to the Mi fans in India saying
Dear Mi fans,
Last week, we were forced to suspend sales in India due to an order passed by the Delhi High Court. Thanks for the overwhelming support so many of you have shown to Mi India in response to that!
We are happy to announce that the Delhi High Court today issued a ruling in our favor, allowing us to resume sales in India subject to certain terms.
The good news is that Redmi 1S is coming back next week and we’ll be having our next sale on Tuesday, December 23. Registration will start shortly — keep an eye on the Mi India page for details!
We will also be resuming sales of Redmi Note shortly, with the 4G model this time. More details on that very soon, stay tuned!
Hugo
(on behalf of the Mi India team)