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Court Bans Xiaomi Phone Sales In India Till February 2015

Court Bans Sale Of Xiaomi Phones In India Till February 2015
A Xiaomi Corp. Mi 3 smartphone is arranged for a photograph at the company's showroom in Beijing, China, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014. Xiaomi Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun plans to boost global smartphone sales fivefold to 100 million units next year. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg via Getty Images
A Xiaomi Corp. Mi 3 smartphone is arranged for a photograph at the company's showroom in Beijing, China, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014. Xiaomi Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun plans to boost global smartphone sales fivefold to 100 million units next year. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has been barred from selling handsets in Indiaat least till 5 February 2015, due to an order passed by the Delhi High Court this week. The court has stayed sales on a plea by Ericsson that Xiaomi had been violating eight patents held by the company, PTI reports.

The court has also restrained its e-commerce partner Flipkart from selling its handsets in India, and for Xiaomi to stop importing and selling its devices in India.

Spicy IP notes that the patents in question are Standard, Essential Patents (SEPs) which are subject to FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms. Ericsson had gone to court over the same patents against Indian phone makers such as Micromax, Gionee and Intex. The ex-parte order injuncts Xiaomi from selling, advertising, manufacturing or importing devices that infringe the SEPs in question.

In an emailed response to HuffPost India, Hugo Barra, vice president, international, at Xiaomi, wrote:

"Regarding the court injunction: we haven't received an official notice from the Delhi High Court yet. However, our legal team is currently evaluating the situation based on the information we have.

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."

In November this year, the Delhi High Court had asked Micromax to pay a royalty equal to 1% of its selling price to Ericsson for using its patents, which was likely to shave off some 20% of its profits.

India is the second largest market for Xiaomi after China. The company had sold half a million handsets in October through its exclusive e-commerce partner Flipkart. Xiaomi is currently selling the Redmi Note and Redmi 1S on Flipkart. Its flash sales were one of the most discussed topics on Facebook this year.

In October, the Indian Air Force had issued an alert to its crew stating that Xiaomi devices were found to send users’ private data to servers based in Beijing.

Update: Xiaomi has suspended sales until further notice. Here's what Hugo Barra said on Facebook:

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