Ericsson recently informed the Delhi High Court that Xiaomi has been violating the partial ban placed on its products by selling smartphones using MediaTek processors in India. It claimed that the company has been doing so through a site called Xiaomi Mobile Retail Shop. The Chinese brand has refuted these accusations, saying that it has no stake in the aforesaid e-commerce site which happens to be a third-party vendor.
Incidentally, Xiaomi Mobile Retail Shop had been taken down and a ‘Site Maintenance’ was up when we visited it at the time of writing this post. But there’s reason to believe that Ericsson may have got it wrong since doing a simple search on Google will display several such e-commerce websites trying to piggyback on the popularity of the smartphone brand. We found two other online portals called Xiaomi World and Xiaomi Mobiles listing only the Chinese company’s various devices.
None of the sites we’ve mentioned above seem to be genuinely tied with Xiaomi who vends its smartphones and accessories through its very own Mi website and plans to do so in India too within the next few months. It seems highly unlikely that the company would risk getting into hot water with authorities in the country while it’s already facing trouble here. Xiaomi phones integrating Qualcomm processors can be legally sold on these shores until March 18, by order of the Delhi High Court.
Related post: Indian court set to investigate Xiaomi for violation in Ericsson case
Xiaomi has been asked to deposit Rs 100 in the name of the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court, for every such Qualcomm-based device it imports. But for now, the company cannot sell devices using MediaTek chips in India since they violate certain Standard, Essential Patents (SEPs) subject to FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms, owned by Ericsson. Going by the HC order, only the Redmi 1S, Mi 3, Redmi Note 4G and Mi 4 can be sold here.