Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus has been stopped from shipping or selling its smartphones in India, just a fortnight after its launch in the country, reports Mint. An interim injunction by the Delhi High Court, a copy of which is with Medianama, has restrained OnePlus from shipping any phones bearing the Cyanogen mark to India from yesterday and from marketing & selling its mobiles phones in the country.
The company however has been allowed to clear its existing stock in the market. OnePlus currently offers its flagship smartphone OnePlus One through Amazon’s India marketplace Amazon.in.
We are currently awaiting a response from Micromax. In an emailed response to Medianama, OnePlus spokesperson said:
In accordance with a judgement passed by the Delhi High Court, we will no longer be producing the OnePlus One with CyanogenMod to be sold in India.
We are still fully committed to serving our users in the region and, in light of this decision, are working to find a solution that will allow us to continue operations as soon as possible.
We regret the inconvenience this causes to OnePlus fans in India who have patiently waited for the opportunity to purchase the One.
Micromax claims OnePlus was infringing on its exclusive rights
This injunction was granted to the handset maker Micromax yesterday after it complained that OnePlus had infringed on its exclusive rights by launching OnePlus One on December 2. Micromax claims to have acquired these exclusive rights for South Asia region through an “ambient services and application distributions agreement” with Cyanogen that develops an alternate Android deployment Cyanogenmod. Interestingly, this injunction comes just a day before Micromax is launching its first Cyanogen-based smartphone YU smartphone, which incidentally will also be an Amazon.in exclusive.
Micromax claims that it has incurred “major expenses for creating a brand exclusivity to Indian customers mobile phones with Cyanogen operating systems” and the company will “suffer irreparable harm and loss if the defendants are permitted to continue with their illegal acts in violation of the agreement between Micromax and Cyanogen”.
OnePlus vs Cyanogen
The judgement notes that OnePlus was granted a non-exclusive license to use Cyanogen’s trademarks and software across the entire world except for Mainland China, as part of which Cyanogen developed the operating system and provided consumer support for the duration of the agreements. However, Cyanogen later terminated its relationship and requested OnePlus to stop using its brand name for marketing in India.
Cyanogen also changed its stance on software updates by declining to provide software updates for OnePlus One devices directly sold in India, after committing to provide the same to OnePlus devices earlier in the day, following multiple requests by OnePlus.
Earlier in the month, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei said that they learnt about the exclusive agreement between Micromax and Cyanogen on November 26, just six days before the India launch. The company is now fast tracking its work on building a new Android Lollipop-based ROM and plans to release a production version by February this year.
The court also notes that OnePlus may sue Cyanogen for a contract breach, but that will be governed the laws of California state and will be decided by the courts of Northern District of California.
Also read: No Cyanogen software updates for OnePlus One users in India
