Xiaomi violating order, selling non-Qualcomm smartphones: Ericsson in Delhi High Court

“Xiaomi is selling handsets based on non-Qualcomm chipsets through a website called xiaomishop.com,” senior advocate Pratibha M Singh told the court.

Advocate Ajit Warrier, appearing for Xiaomi, refuted the contention of Ericsson, saying “it (Xiaomi) has no stake in the website” and someone else was misusing their name.

He contended that the company was complying with the court’s order and the phones, allegedly infringing Ericsson’s patents phones, were being sold by third parties over whom Xiaomi does not have any control.

The division bench on December 16 last year had permitted Xiaomi to sell its Qualcomm chipset-based devices as a ‘pro tem’ (temporary) measure till the issue was heard by the single judge today, and disposed of the Chinese company’s appeal against the December 8, 2014 order of the single judge.

The interim ban on import and sale of Xiaomi devices which run on other processors or chipsets shall continue, the division bench had clarified.

Xiaomi Redmi Note

Redmi Note, one of the latest entrants of Xiaomi in India, runs on a Mediatek processor.

The single-judge today extended the division bench’s interim order allowing Xiaomi to continue the sale of handsets with Qualcomm chipset-based devices till March 18, provided that it deposits Rs 100 per device imported in the name of Registrar General of the Delhi High Court.

The court also appointed local commissioners to visit five customs offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata to collect information on all Xiaomi devices being imported, including the ones by third parties.

The smartphone maker is selling its low-cost smartphones through flash sales under an exclusive arrangement with e-commerce website Flipkart.

On December 8 last year, the high court had restrained Xiaomi and Flipkart from selling in India handsets of the mobile maker that run on the technology patented by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.

The division bench had passed the ‘pro tem’ interim order after Xiaomi alleged that Ericsson had suppressed facts while obtaining the stay order.

The case pertains to standard essential patents used in AMR, 2G, 3G and Edge technologies.

Ericsson has alleged infringements of its patents relating to these technologies by Xiaomi.

A Standard Essential Patent is the patent for the core technology essential to create something of a particular technical standard.

In this case, mobile phones cannot be made without the GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA technology, which are patented by Ericsson.