A Delhi High Court has lifted a ban on the sale of OnePlus One handsets in India. The same court had imposed the ban on December 16.
The decision to lift the ban is based on the opinion that fellow smartphone manufacturer Micromax, with its ‘exclusive right to use Cyanogen’s custom Android software’ within India, is not actually in competition with OnePlus in the market.
The Division Bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice R K Gauba has also asked the single bench to hear the petition filed by Micromax against Chinese phonemaker Shenzhen OnePlus Technology afresh, after noting that there was no reason to pass an ad interim injunction as both devices target completely different pricing segments.
“In view of the facts noted by us hereinabove, it would not be a case to grant an ad interim injunction… We were informed that mobile devices launched in India by Micromax are sold at around Rs 8,000 per piece and those by OnePlus at around Rs 22,000 per piece.
The consumer of one product is mid-segment and the other is high-end and thus prima-facie neither competes nor eats into territory of other.†said the bench.
The court asked Cyanogen to file their replies on Micromax’ application for interim stay, saying the parties needed to be given an opportunity to file their pleadings.
Earlier this month, Micromax had complained that OnePlus had infringed its exclusivity under an agreement with Cyanogen. Cyanogen made it clear that, although it has teamed up with Micromax, it will deliver updates to OnePlus One globally.[signoff predefined=”Enjoy this?” icon=”icon-users”][/signoff]
