The Delhi High Court has permitted Xiaomi to sell and import Qualcomm chipset based handsets till January 08. The court is scheduled to hear the case on February 5, so it is likely that Xiaomi phones will again be banned in the country from January 9 unless the court passes another similar order.Before the ban, the company was selling only two smartphones in the country: Redmi 1S and Redmi Note. Of these, the former runs on a Qualcomm chipset, while the latter is powered by a MediaTek processor.
Last week, the Delhi High Court in an interim order has restrained Xiaomi as well as online e-commerce site Flipkart from selling in India handsets of the Chinese mobile maker that run on a technology patented by Ericsson.
The court has also restrained Xiaomi or its agents from making, assembling, importing or offering for sale its devices that are infringing the mobile phone technology patented by Ericsson.
Justice G P Mittal directed the customs authorities to prevent import of Xiaomi phones that are infringing the patents of Ericsson and if any consignment is imported, the same be informed to Ericsson and its objections be decided as per the Intellectual Property Rules.
The high court 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.
The court has also 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.
