The recent ban on Xiaomi mobile phones in India has raised many eyebrows on the way our judiciary is working. Ericsson had accused Xiaomi for using its SEP (Standard Essential Patents) without permission. It led to an ex parte order against the company, discontinuing the sales of Xiaomi handsets in India till February 5, 2015.
This ban brings out a very interesting fact in front of everyone. Almost 2 years ago, Ericsson had filed a case against home grown mobile company, Micromax, for infringing on eight of its patents. Its consequence was, Micromax had to pay 1% of the selling price of phones which uses any of these 8 patents, to Ericsson in the form of royalty.
The point which needs to be noted here is there was no ban in this case.
The Delhi High Court may have put a pause to the dominance of this fast growing Chinese company but how is it justified. At the time when this injunction was being taken, Xiaomi was not even given a chance to explain their side of the story. This harsh step by the court came as a huge set back to the company and its Indian fans. The question which needs to be asked here is, why a ban? Instead what could have been done was, give the companies a chance to reach for a settlement.
India was the second biggest market for Xiaomi after China, and because of this ban, Xiaomi will be losing out on a lot of market in the next few months. There was no investigation done before passing the judgement and this certainly is an unfair way to come to a conclusion. The probe was ordered after the ruling instead of doing it before. Banning a product directly means huge losses to the company and our Delhi High Court is clearly being insensitive to this fact.
What I don’t understand here is, if laws are made by the government then shouldn’t it be same for everyone? What is it with the biasness towards the Indian company? The way Xiaomi was pacing ahead, the number one spot didn’t look far ahead. But now, this step by the government has come as a severe blow to its chances of reaching the top.
The ban doesn’t mean it’s the end of the era of Mi phones in India, Xiaomi is likely to make a strong comeback very soon. For this company to resurface in the Indian market, it’s very important that the government puts every company on the same pedestal when it comes to making such huge decisions.
This harsh step by the government is only going to repel foreign companies from entering the Indian market. It can be detrimental for the country’s growth if such a thing happens. The government should learn to take care of the foreign companies, or else it may end up paying a heavy price for its negligence.
