The news has now leaked out – DJI and Insta360 have, shall we say, launched similar products onto the market. And that’s why the two companies are no longer exactly on the best of terms.
The South China Morning Post reported on this back in March. The dispute is still before the courts and is set to drag on for a while yet. This is because it centres on a Chinese legal provision stipulating that inventions by inventors who change companies remain the property of their previous employer for one year, provided the inventor had already been working on the project whilst at their former company.
And in this case, a few engineers moved from DJI to Insta and – surprise, surprise – applied for patents there for exactly what they’d been working on at DJI. It concerns six key patents, including a flight control system for drones.
That’s why DJI is now rather annoyed. The case now involves damages running into millions. And as the dispute is still dragging on – because Insta360 says, “Nah, the patents aren’t that important – and besides, it was all completely different” – and has consequently launched a counter-lawsuit in the US straight away, the damages keep mounting.
Although the outcome is predictable, as DJI can prove the whole thing with plenty of documentation, why should they settle amicably? That’s rather out of fashion these days.
Incidentally, Insta360 is well-regarded in America, as it has been working with Google since 2017 to promote Google Street View. The CEO, Leon Liu (also known as JK Liu – many Chinese people adopt American first names), lives in Redding, California, although the company is actually based in Shenzhen, China. He’s bound to have his reasons.
Ich dachte, dass man in Ost-Asien seinen Chef nicht entehren darf
oder gibt es diese Regel nicht in China, sondern nur in Japan? 😉
Gute Entscheidung des CEO’s; bei uns in Italien werden immer mal wieder solche Leute mir Betongamaschen wiedergefunden, einige Meter unterhalb des Meeresspiegels.
Am Ende werden sich beide Firmen ihre Patente gegenseitig lizensieren. Solche Vereinbarungen sind in der Industrie durchaus üblich. Deshalb wird auch jeder noch so geringe Einfall patentiert, damit man etwas zum Tauschen hat. Geschachert wird dann umso heftiger um den Preis. Man kann damit auch wunderbar Steuern sparen: In manchen Ländern werden Einnahmen aus Lizenzen nur sehr gering oder gar nicht besteuert. Ausgaben für Nutzung fremder Patente können komplett geltend gemacht werden.