In a move that is truly David vs Goliath, American drone-maker Autel Robotics is suing China’s DJI over a patent infringement.
Bloomerg reported last week that DJI is accused of using Autel’s patented features for following a flight path while avoiding obstacles, rotor assembly and a way to switch out batteries to minimize lag time between flights.
DJI’s APAS system, which guides the drone along a flight path while avoiding obstacles first appeared with the DJI Mavic Air last January. Since then it has also been built into the new Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom drones released in August.
DJI is the giant in the drone industry, with global market share somewhere north of 70%, an injunction against US sales resulting from this suit would be a significant impact to DJI’s position.
This recent patent dispute between Autel and DJI is not the first time these companies have locked horns. Both have claimed that the other has been using it’s technology previously.
Given the hostile protectionist mood in the USA presently, many global companies will be closely watching the outcome of these disputes.
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