The Delhi HC has finally lifted the ban on the sale of OnePlus One smartphones which use Cyanogen software, providing temporary relief to the Chinese company. The judgement was made based on the assumption that the One cannot eat into the market share of what the complainant (Micromax) has to offer.
The OnePlus One costs roughly Rs 22000, while the Yu Yureka carries a price of Rs 8999. So it makes sense to argue that the former will be part of the higher end market as compared to the latter’s low-end status, and therefore not so much of a threat. That’s until Micromax rolls out a similarly pegged device one would think, but we don’t claim to be legal experts.
As it stands for now, the HC has declared the December 16 ban on sales of OnePlus One smartphones to have been lifted and has arranged for the case to be heard once again within a fortnight. The court also observed that it was not enough to skim the subject before making a judgement. The exact details of the software being used by the two opposing parties need examination.
It’s also important to closely inspect the kind of deals Cyanogen made with OnePlus as well as Micromax. We’re not sure why the first-mentioned allowed itself to be steered into such a sticky situation seeing as it’s got a long way to go before it can offer stiff competition to Google’s mobile OS. Now manufacturers are going to be saying ‘No thanks’ to the Android fork considering the unfolding drama.
Also see: Now OnePlus One sales banned in India by Delhi HC following Micromax complaint
For those who’re not in the loop, after OnePlus announced plans to bring the One into India, Micromax and Cyanogen made public a deal between them which had the mobile brand being awarded exclusive rights to sell devices running on the forked version of Android in the country. It’s possible that too much faith has been placed in the Indian brand at a stage when it’s not wise to do so.
OnePlus retaliated by saying that its collaboration and trademark license agreement with Cyanogen was terminated just one or two weeks before the launch of the One on these shores. What’s more, its handset uses the CM11S version of the software unlike Micromax’s, as reported by The Economic Times. It’s left to see whether the Delhi HC will find enough cause for enforcing the ban again.