XiaomiIndian court set to investigate Xiaomi for violation in Ericsson case

Indian court set to investigate Xiaomi for violation in Ericsson case

At Ericsson’s request, the Delhi High Court is reported to be investigating Xiaomi for violating the ban on selling smartphones that are not based on Qualcomm processors in India. The Chinese handset maker has been accused of paying no heed to the interim order permitting it to vend only those devices embedding Qualcomm processors. The Swedish telecom brand has alleged that the offending party is pushing out smartphones containing chips which are not of Qualcomm origin, through a website called Xiaomi Mobile Retail Shop.

But Xiaomi has tried to disprove the accusation by claiming to have no stake in the aforesaid portal, says NDTV Gadgets. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson’s initial complaints have however resulted in the interim order being extended until March 18, providing Xiaomi deposits Rs 100 in the name of the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court, for each device imported into India. This is obviously better than a blanket ban on selling, advertising, manufacturing or shipping in electronics apparently infringing Ericsson’s patents.

Xiaomi Mascot

To put it neatly, while Xiaomi’s phones using MediaTek processors simply cannot be sold in the country, its Qualcomm-based gadgets can continue to be offered under the conditions mentioned above. So the Redmi Note cannot legally be vended in India, unlike its 4G version which has a Snapdragon chipset. Qualcomm has the required licences to employ patents owned by Ericsson, and hence the partial ban. Even the Redmi 1S, Mi 3 and Mi 4 can be made officially available owing to the brand of chips they integrate.

Also see: Xiaomi smartphones will be manufactured in Chennai

As for Xiaomi selling its smartphones in India under its own online portal, we know it plans to do so within three to nine months. Since all publicity isn’t necessarily good for it, we think it’s hardly likely that it would attempt to violate the limited ban by the Delhi High Court.

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