Wuhan court upholds Xiaomi anti-suit injunction
A Wuhan court has upheld an anti-suit injunction granted in favour of Xiaomi against InterDigital, among the first of its kind issued by a Chinese court.
In September, the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court granted Xiaomi the injunction, blocking InterDigital from litigating against the Chinese smartphone maker in other jurisdictions.
This was the second high-profile anti-suit injunction granted by a Chinese court, after the Supreme People’s Court issued one in favour of Huawei against Conversant last year.
The Wuhan court has now rejected an application from InterDigital to reconsider the injunction, according to reports.
The proceedings began when Xiaomi asked the Wuhan court to determine a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalty for InterDigital patents covering 3G and 4G technology.
Xiaomi requested the anti-suit injunction after InterDigital sued the Chinese company at the Delhi High Court in India.
According to the Wuhan court, InterDigital used the Indian litigation as a tool for delaying proceedings in China. The court also noted that the outcome at the Delhi High Court may not be reconcilable with its own conclusions.
InterDigital then returned to the Delhi court and obtained an “anti anti-suit injunction”, blocking enforcement of the Wuhan court’s order until it had reached a decision in the Indian litigation.
According to the Delhi court, it had been wrongly “divested of the opportunity of adjudicating on the dispute, brought before it by the plaintiffs, which it has, otherwise, the jurisdiction to hear and decide”.
But Xiaomi and the Wuhan court have shown little indication that they are prepared to back down from the anti-suit injunction, which are increasingly powerful tools used by courts in disputes over standard-essential patents.
WIPR has contacted Xiaomi and InterDigital for comment.
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