India certainly isn’t making it easy for consumers to get their hands on trending smartphones. The Delhi High Court has just issued an order that bans Chinese device manufacturer OnePlus from importing, marketing and selling its flagship device in the country, reports UnleashThePhones.
The news comes, sadly enough, on OnePlus’ first anniversary. Domestic brand Micromax complained to the High Court in the capital that OnePlus was infringing on its country-specific exclusivity agreement with Cyanogen, whose OS will feature on Micromax’s YU brand of devices, which is slated to launch tomorrow.
Micromax says it had “incurred major expenses for creation of a brand exclusivity for providing to Indian customers mobile phones with Cyanogen operating systems,” and “ would suffer irreparable harm and loss if the defendants (OnePlus) are permitted to continue with their illegal acts in violation of the agreement between Micromax and Cyanogen.”
Mint adds that the Delhi High Court in its ruling (PDF) has not only restrained OnePlus from importing and marketing its phones in India, but also barred the company from shipping any stock that bears Cyanogen branding in the country.
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OnePlus claims that it learned about Cyanogen’s exclusive deal only a fortnight before its launch in India, and has since promised to offer its own OS build based on Android 5.0 Lollipop next February.
Meanwhile, Cyanogen has confirmed that it won’t offer OTA updates to OnePlus devices sold in India.
Can OnePlus take legal action against Cyanogen? The Delhi High Court stated that OnePlus may sue Cyanogen for breach of contract, governed by the laws of the state of California as per the agreement between the two companies, but will not find legal remedy in India.
OnePlus is the second Chinese manufacturer to be barred from selling devices in India over infringement claims this year, after Xiaomi was slapped with a ban over a patent tussle with Ericsson last week (the ban has since lifted as of today).
We’ve reached out to Micromax, Cyanogen and OnePlus for comments, and will update this post as soon as we hear back.
Update: Cyanogen has declined to comment on the issue.
➤ OnePlus banned from selling phones in India [UnleashThePhones]
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