Huami Sued in USA for Patent Infringement

On March 23, the US “patent troll” Sportbrain Holdings LLC took Huami Inc., part of Xiaomi’s Eco-chain, to the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, claiming that the latter had been infringing its United States Patent No. 7,454,002 (hereinafter the “002 Patent”) with the smart watch Huami Amazfit Pace, sold in the US.

The plaintiff, Sportbrain Holdings LLC, has filed over 90 lawsuits in the US with the 002 Patent since 2012. The number mounted to as high as 75 just in 2016, making Sportbrain the third on the list of “the most prolific patent trolls” of the year. Companies drawn into litigation include US companies such as Apple, HP and Nike, as well as their Chinese counterparts Lenovo, Huawei, Haier and TCL. Huami, as a component of the Xiaomi Eco-chain, was also not spared from this “black list” that continues to grow.

Although Xiaomi has already passed the “baptism of fire” launched by “patent trolls” (already twice so far), this instance still counts as the first real encounter for a Xiaomi Eco-chain enterprise with respect to the US patent check system of Huami products (if we don’t consider the Ninebot’s acquisition of Segway). The phenomenon of “patent troll” lawsuits in the US has always been a meter of a company’s business achievement.

As for Huami, it has already become one of the most successful members among its counterparts in the Xiaomi’s Eco-chain, as the second largest manufacturer of wearable devices in the world, second only to the big Fitbit, according to IDC. In 2016, Huami sold globally around 16 million wearables devices with sales skyrocketing to RMB 1.5 billion (approx. USD $20 million), thanks to which it leapt to “unicorn” status, been valued at USD $1 billion.