DJI Could Be the Next Chinese Brand to be Banned in US
The US market seems to have a vendetta against Chinese products, with the most recent one being DJI. The famed camera drone brand was accused by US competitor – Autel Robotics of infringing on their patents.
Autel had accused DJI (officially SZ DJI Technology Co. Ltd.) of violating one of its patents (US Patent No. 9, 260,184). The patent describes what has seemed to become the standard design for camera drones of late.
A rotary wing aircraft apparatus has arms extending from a body, and a rotor assembly attached to an end of each arm. Each rotor assembly has a rotor blade releasably attached by a lock mechanism. A clockwise rotor blade is releasably attached to a first rotor assembly by engagement in a clockwise lock mechanism, and a counterclockwise rotor blade is releasably attached to a second rotor assembly by engagement in a counterclockwise lock mechanism.
More details can be found on the patent page: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9260184B2/en
Since the description shared a lot with the DJI Mavic Pro, Autel took them to court and the Judge ruled in their favour. In his ruling the ITC’s chief administrative law judge recommend the the Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro Platinum, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic 2 Zoom, Mavic Air, and Spark be barred from import and sale in the US. (With Autel pushing for the bann of other DJI drones)
Should this ruling be upheld by the full ITC commission then DJI could be kicked out of one of the world’s largest market as early as July 2020.
