Xiaomi selling ‘illegal’ phones in India, Ericsson tells HC

Amid reports that popular Chinese mobile handset maker Xiaomi Technology is planning a manufacturing facility in Chennai within months, its Swedish rival Ericsson claimed in the Delhi High Court that Xiaomi was violating its interim order by selling handsets which do not have chipsets of Qualcomm Inc (See: Xiaomi plans Chennai plant through partner Inventec by July).

The counsel for Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson told a single-judge bench of Justice Jayant Nath that Xiaomi was violating a division bench order of the court allowing the Chinese company to sell and import till today 5 February only handsets which have Qualcomm processors (Xiaomi to fight Delhi High Court order to resume smartphone sales).

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

The bench set the next hearing for 18 March.

Advocate Ajit Warrier, appearing for Xiaomi India, refuted the contention of Ericsson, saying ''it (Xiaomi) has no stake in the website'' and someone else was misusing their name (No control over third-party sellers, says phone maker Xiaomi).

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

The division bench on 16 December last year had permitted Xiaomi to sell its Qualcomm chipset-based devices as a 'pro tem' (temporary) measure till the issue was heard by a single judge.

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

The judge extended the division bench's interim order allowing Xiaomi to continue the sale of handsets with Qualcomm chipset-based devices till 18 March provided that it deposits Rs100 per device imported with the 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 8 December, 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.