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Not just sales, Xiaomi shuts down its India website too

Ericsson has claimed that Xiaomi has not been paying licence fee to Ericsson for using its patented technologies

Two models of China's Xiaomi Mi phones are pictured during their launch in New Delhi

BS Reporter New Delhi
The world's third largest smartphone maker that has, on Friday morning put out a public announcement addressing all its consumers in India stating that it has been "forced to suspend sales" of its smartphones in India, its second largest market after China.

The company has put out the announcement on its India website, which now contains only one page that shows the letter from its global vice president Hugo Barra, has took out all other information, including the product info, after the Delhi High Court, on 8 December, restrained the company from selling handsets that run on technology patented by Ericsson.

However, Xiaomi's Facebook page on Indian market is still live.

In an open letter to Indian consumers, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's global vice president, said: "We have been forced to suspend sales until further notice due to an order passed by the Delhi High Court. As a law abiding company, we are investigating the matter carefully and assessing our legal options." The latter has been posted on the company's India website and Barra has also posted the same on his personal Facebook page.

Ericsson has claimed that Xiaomi has not been paying licence fee to Ericsson for using its patented technologies.

"Our sincere apologies to all Indian Mi fans! Please rest assured that we're doing all we can to revert the situation. We have greatly enjoyed our journey with you in India over the last five months and we firmly intend to continue it!" Barra added.

The third largest smartphone maker in the world has already sold 800,000-900,000 smartphones in India in the past few months. In his letter, Barra said, Xiaomi has received over 150,000 registrations for Redmi Note on Flipkart in the past two days.

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First Published: Dec 12 2014 | 5:24 PM IST

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