Zee Media Bureau/Rd. Alexander
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has reportedly banned Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi from importing, advertising and selling handsets in India following a patent infringement case filed by Ericsson.
The court has also restrained Xiaomi or its agents from making, assembling, importing or offering for sale its devices which are infringing the mobile phone technology patented by Ericsson.
According to reports, Xiaomi had infringed upon Ericsson's standard essential patents following which the latter had tried to contact the Chinese company many times but were ignored.
The patent in the case is said to have belonged to FRAND category for which Eriscsson had to charge a reasonable fee to licence them to any company.
Ericsson had wrote to Xiaomi asking it to pay for the patents but were ignored, said reports.
According to the court order, Xiaomi cannot import, sell or advertise any handsets in India. However, it is not clear if the company will continue selling its Redmi 1S and Redmi Note that are currently up on Flipkart for sale.
About the reports, Xiaomi's India head Manu Kumar Jain said that the company was yet to get the court order.
"While we haven't received an official notice from the Delhi High Court, our legal team is currently evaluating the situation based on the information we have," a leading online media quoted him as saying.
"India is a very important market for Xiaomi and we will respond promptly as needed and in full compliance with Indian laws. Moreover, we are open to working with Ericsson to resolve this matter amicably," he was further quoted.
So far, Xiaomi has sold over 800,000 handsets of Redmi 1S and Mi3 in India through 'flash sale' on Flipkart and about 125,000 Redmi Note.
