Philips takes legal action to prevent the sale of Xiaomi mobile devices in India

Koninklijke Philips NV - more commonly known as Philips - has mounted a new case for Indian authorities. It has resulted in an injunction to prevent the sale of certain mobile devices in the country, submitted to the Delhi High Court at New Delhi on 27 November 2020.

Philips contends that the targets of this action infringes on its patents filed in the same country. According to its complaint, they relate to "UMTS enhancement", which indicates they pertain to the function of HSPA, HSPA+ and 4G/LTE connectivity in the products in question.

These allegations have been leveled at the OEM Xiaomi, and seeks to block the sale, manufacture, advertising, assembly or importation of the devices made with the IP in question. This could have a serious impact on the smartphone market in India, a country in which it holds a consistent leading position.

The same company has been ordered to retain a balance equal to INR 10 billlon (~US$136 million) in its local corporate accounts by the High Court, in the event it loses the ensuing legal action and needs to make a payout to Philips in order to resolve this situation.