In July this year, the State University of New York, the University of Connecticut, and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, three American universities, sued Xiaomi, as well as Huami Technology, which OEM Xiaomi bracelets/watches.
The three universities allege that Xiaomi infringed on seven of its U.S. patents related to health monitoring features, primarily smartwatches/bracelets.
According to the three schools, the algorithms and systems used to detect physiological functions in Xiaomi's full range of watches/bracelets are patented by Dr. Ki Chon, who holds positions at all three universities, so the three universities sued Xiaomi at the same time.
At present, this case is not over, and I never thought that these three universities have recently changed their target, that is, Huawei.
A few days ago, the three universities sued Huawei on the same grounds, claiming that the algorithms and systems used to detect physiological functions in Huawei's full range of watches and bracelets also infringed Dr. Ki Chon's patented technology.
Therefore, the three universities hope to stop Xiaomi and Huawei from stealing publicly funded academic results for profit through lawsuits.
According to industry insiders, this kind of lawsuit may be a protracted battle, and no one knows what the outcome will be, but it is likely that Huawei and Xiaomi's products may face the risk of import bans.
Why did these three universities sue Huawei after they had finished suing Xiaomi?
On the one hand, of course, I want to make some money, after all, now Xiaomi and Huawei are famous and are all Fortune 500 companies, if the lawsuit wins, the fine is certain, and this kind of lawsuit in the United States is not a little, but a huge amount of compensation.
According to the data of the third quarter of 2023, among the wearable products of global smart watches/bracelets, Xiaomi ranks second in the world, second only to Apple, and Huawei ranks third in the world, which is not far from Apple.
At the same time, Xiaomi increased by 39%, Huawei increased by 45%, according to this trend, maybe Apple will be pulled off the altar, through prosecution, and then ban, it will naturally be able to stop the sales of Xiaomi, Huawei products, of course, it is also good for Apple and other American companies.
However, some people say that the worst possibility is that it is not sold in the United States, and Huawei is not sold in the United States, so just ignore it, as for Xiaomi's sales in the United States, it is nothing.
But in fact, once the lawsuit is lost in the United States, it is entirely possible that these universities will sue in other parts of the world, such as in Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Africa and other places, then for Huawei and Xiaomi, it will have a big impact.
Therefore, for these lawsuits, it is really impossible to ignore that the purpose of the other party is obviously not only against Xiaomi and Huawei, but also to prevent China's development in the high-tech field. So this time, Xiaomi and Huawei are likely to join forces to fight each other's hooliganism.