Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is being forced to temporarily suspend sales of its devices in India amidst a patent case with equipment maker Ericsson.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered Xiaomi and its local sales partner Flipkart to stop importing and selling the devices in India until Feb. 5, when the court is scheduled to hear Ericsson's patent infringement claims against the budget handset maker, according to Reuters.
Xiaomi, whose smartphones are hugely popular in China, entered India this past July. As part of this week's order, the Delhi High Court also asked Xiaomi and Flipkart to hand over data about the phones they sold in the region that include the alleged infringing tech, as well as how much money they made from those sales, Reuters said.
Ericsson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in a statement provided to Reuters, the company accused Xiaomi of using its smartphone technology without paying a licensing fee.
"To continue investing in research and enabling the development of new ideas, new standards and new platforms to the industry, we must obtain a fair return on our R&D investments," Ericsson said.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi's Chief of India Operations, Manu Jain, told Reuters that Xiaomi's legal team is currently "evaluating the situation based on the information we have."
Xiaomi in October became the world's third largest smartphone vendor for the first time ever, trailing only Samsung and Apple. Going forward, Xiaomi could face increased competition in India from Apple, which is reportedly planning to open 500 iOS-centric retail stores in the country in a major expansion into smaller Indian towns and cities.
In India, Xiaomi's arrival there was apparently met with much fanfare. As the company noted on its Facebook page, Xiaomi was one of the top 10 most discussed topics in 2014 on Facebook in India, trailing only the country's general election, the Indian Premier League, the World Cup, the Mars orbiter mission, and the floods that devastated Kashmir.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, a sale of 75,000 5.5-inch Xiaomi Redmi Note smartphones sold out in India in less than 10 seconds, the company said.
For more, see PCMag's Hands On With the Xiaomi Mi3 Smartphone and the slideshow above.