Xiaomi denied being sued for patent infringement by Coolpad, with the tech giant’s first comment on the matter claiming that it never received any official notice of such litigation being in the works, Chinese media reports. The statement was meant to reflect on recent reports that Coolpad is targeting several Xiaomi subsidiaries for infringing on a number of the company’s patents related to the Android operating system, though the smartphone maker says its only word of an upcoming legal clash came from those very same reports. It’s presently unclear whether Coolpad made a misstep in the process of filing for litigation or if the leaked lawsuit has yet to be filed in the first place. The supposed plaintiff refused to issue a more in-depth response to the allegations raised by the lawsuit as it said their details remain vague, making it unclear what exactly is Coolpad accusing it of.
The reported lawsuit is said to have originated from Coolpad Group-owned Yulong Computer Communications Technology, seeking damages based on Xiaomi’s revenue generated through from the sales of its infringing devices which haven’t been specified. Coolpad’s subsidiary reportedly alleged infringement of its patents related to an Android-based user interface, mobile notification system, and an app icon management service. The plaintiff was also said to be seeking an injunction that would prevent Xiaomi from selling the infringing devices going forward. Coolpad has yet to comment on the matter in any capacity.
This is expected to be a major year for both Xiaomi and Coolpad, with the former being set to star in the largest tech IPO of 2018, seeking a valuation of up to $100 billion, according to recent reports. Coolpad will also be looking to raise additional funds to back its future endeavors and expects to have an easier time of doing so now that it has managed to cut all ties with LeEco, China’s debt-ridden tech giant that liquidated its major stake in Coolpad and lost tens of millions of dollars in the process of doing so several weeks back. Going forward, Coolpad is seeking major diversification and will attempt to at least partially shift its smartphone resources to general artificial intelligence research and development. The company also has plans to strengthen its minor physical footprint in the United States, though Washington’s current protectionist economic policy may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle to those ambitions as it has already successfully blocked much larger Chinese tech companies such as ZTE and Huawei from doing business in the country on any significant scale.