Xiaomi has agreed to comply with an Indian court’s order calling out for suspension of sale of the company’s smartphones in the Indian market.
“We have been forced to suspend sales in India until further notice due to an order passed by the Delhi High Court. As a law abiding company, we are investigating the matter carefully and assessing our legal options… Please rest assured that we’re doing all we can to revert the situation,” said Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s vice president of international operations, in a Facebook post.
The announcement follows the Delhi High Court’s interim order directing Xiaomi and Flipkart to curb import and sales of devices in India until Feb 5, when it is due to hear a case related to patent infringements filed by Ericsson against the Chinese firm.
The order was passed on the plea of Ericsson that Xiaomi has been violating its eight patents pertaining to AMR, EDGE and 3G technologies in the field of telecommunication.
The court has also issued summons and notice to Xiaomi and Flipkart and directed them to file an affidavit disclosing the number of devices – that are AMR, EDGE and 3G compliant – sold by them in India till date. They have also been asked to disclose in the affidavit the revenue earned by selling these devices till date.
The court has appointed three local commissioners to visit the premises of Xiaomi and Flipkart where the devices are stored in order to inspect and collect documents as well as seal the infringing mobiles.
Ericsson said it had to take legal action against Xiaomi, as the latter refused to respond regarding Ericsson’s intellectual property for three years.
“It is unfair for Xiaomi to benefit from our substantial R&D investment without paying a reasonable licensee fee for our technology,” Ericsson noted.
Following the ban, Xiaomi has said that it is willing to conduct patents talks with Ericsson.
“India is a very important market for Xiaomi and we will respond promptly as needed and in full compliance with India laws. Moreover, we are open to working with Ericsson to resolve this matter amicably.”
Meanwhile Flipkart’s website also now mentions that sale of Xiaomi smartphones has been suspended till further notice.
