DJI has filed a lawsuit against Insta360 in the Shenzhen Intermediate Court, alleging that its parent company Arashi Vision infringed on six patents related to drone flight control, image processing, and hardware design.
In the lawsuit, DJI said the patents should have been theirs because they were developed by former DJI employees within a year of quitting. Under Chinese law, DJI has a claim to patents after employees move to new companies if they are related to their work at their old company.
Insta360 founder JK Liu denied DJI’s claims, saying all of the innovations in question were created in-house at Insta360. He later claimed that DJI copied some of Insta360’s camera functions and accessories in its products. Insta360 found that DJI’s products potentially infringed on 28 of its patents, but chose not to sue, saying it wanted to focus on innovation, not litigation.
It is rare for Chinese companies to sue each other over patent infringement. But DJI and Insta360 are now competing in the same business of drones, compact action cameras and microphones. Insta360's Antigravity A1 drone, for example, has just been launched in Malaysia with 360-degree recording and 8K video capabilities.
