The world’s biggest maker of civilian drones could see its products shut out of the US market after a patent infringement complaint was filed by smaller rival.
SZ DJI Technology Co (大疆創新), a Chinese manufacturer of popular hobbyist and commercial drones, including the Phantom and Mavic series, is being challenged by Autel Robotics Co.
The dispute is over unmanned vehicles used for aerial photography and videotaping, as well as for agricultural purposes.
Photo: Bloomberg
The world’s best-selling drone is the family known as the DJI Phantom, which has a distinctive white plastic exterior and a mount for a camera on its belly.
The US Federal Aviation Administration predicted that 1.6 million civilian drones would be sold in the US this year.
The Teal Group from Fairfax, Virginia, estimated the worldwide civilian unmanned aircraft market would reach US$4.4 billion this year.
DJI is accused of using Autel’s patented features for following a flight path while avoiding obstacles, rotor assembly and a way to switch out battery packs to minimize lag time between flights.
Autel wants the US International Trade Commission to ban imports of models of DJI’s Phantom, Mavic, Spark and Inspire drones made in China by DJI, a complaint filed in Washington on Thursday last week showed.
“If DJI’s big market is the US, then this is a big deal for them,” said Paul Brinkman of Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, who specializes in ITC cases, but is not involved in this one.
Autel, which says it designs and makes its drones in the US, contends in the complaint that excluding DJI drones from the US “is likely to improve competitive conditions” in the market by providing opportunities for others, including Autel, Yuneec International Co and Parrot SA.
Even if DJI’s products are excluded, “consumers would still have a variety of products from which to choose that would be manufactured by Autel and other companies,” Autel said in the complaint.
DJI spokesman Adam Lisberg said the company had no comment on the complaint.
The trade complaint escalates a legal battle that has been simmering between the companies for the past two years, after Autel began selling its X-Star quadcopter in the US and later its EVO models. Each has accused the other of incorporating their respective technology without paying for it.
“It’s definitely ramped up the case,” Brinkman said. “Anything on a slow track at district court isn’t going to matter so much.”
By filing a complaint with the US trade agency, Autel has raised the stakes. It is rare for a federal court to block sales, even when it involves competing products. The trade commission, by contrast, often issues import bans if it finds products infringe US patents.
The patents in this case all expire after 2030.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS