Xiaomi sues Panasonic in China

On August 29, 2024, PRIP learned that Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Xiaomi") had filed a lawsuit with the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in Hubei Province against Panasonic Home Appliances (China) Co., Ltd., Wuhan Guanghe Century Trading Co., Ltd., Panasonic Electric Appliances (China) Co., Ltd., and Xiamen Panasonic Electronic Information Co., Ltd. (collectively referred to as "Panasonic") for infringement of its invention patent, case number （2024）鄂01知民初635号. This case will be heard in court on November 8, 2024.

This is Xiaomi's first counterclaim against Panasonic after the Japanese company officially announced patent enforcement activities against Chinese smartphone companies OPPO and Xiaomi on August 9th last year.

Panasonic stated that it will file lawsuits simultaneously in Germany, the United Kingdom, the newly established European Unified Patent Court (UPC), and China. It involves essential patents for standards such as WCDMA and LTE.

Multiple articles by Juve-Patent (I and II) and IP Fray (Panasonic vs OPPO, and Panasonic vs XIAOMI ) have reported on the progress of this case in UPC, Germany, and the UK.

However, Chinese courts have not publicly disclosed information regarding Panasonic's lawsuit against Xiaomi. Therefore, this lawsuit by Xiaomi against Panasonic is the first disclosure of disputes between the two sides on the Chinese battlefield.

In addition, the patent number involved in Xiaomi's case have not been made public, and it is also unclear whether Xiaomi has claimed FRAND royality judgment or just claimed infriging judgment.

According to the records of the China Patent Office, Xiaomi has filed mutiple invalid challenges against Panasonic patents in China: ZL201080015545. X ZL200880103316.6、ZL201680090746.3、ZL201310315588.5、ZL201610160823.X. These invalid challenges are currently under review.

The last important standard essential patent case in Wuhan Intermediate People's Court was the 2020 "Xiaomi v InterDigital" case.

In 2021, the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court issued an Anti-suit injunction (ASI) against the patent dispute case of "Xiaomi v InterDigital".

This case has also become a typical example of the EU seeking a dispute resolution mechanism against China from the WTO in 2022.