DJI Loses Drone Patent Fight With Autel, Could Close Door to US Sales

DJI, the largest manufacturer of drones worldwide, could soon see sale of its products blocked in the USA sometime this summer based on an unfavorable patent ruling by the International Trade Commission.

According to sources, the ITC has ruled that DJI infringed on a patent held by competitor Autel Robotics and has the judge has recommended that the products in question be banned from importation into the USA DJI’s largest market.

Offending products include the Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro Platinum, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic 2 Zoom, Mavic Air and Spark drones.  According to the news release by Autel’s legal firm, Steptoe, “the chief administrative law judge’s initial determiniation also recommended a cease and desist order prohibiting DJI from selling any of those products already in the United States at the time the exclusion order issues.”

The patent in question, US Patent No. 9, 260,184, basically refers to a rotor assembly extending from the drone aircraft where a hooked rotor blade locking mechanism is engageable only when affixed to the same respective direction of the rotor. So a clockwise rotor blade is engageable only with the clockwise lock mechanism and the counterclockwise rotor blade is engagable with the counterclockwise lock mechanism.

Autel originally received the patent in 2013, and the claim against DJI was filed in 2018.

Related Video: Hands On with AUTEL EVO II at CES2020

The challenge with modern inventions is that the volume of inventors who have patented ideas is staggering.  So many patents have been created that new manufacturers of a device may not know, or easily know, that a patent exists for how they are constructing their invention.  Because of this fact, patent holders sometimes take years to discover that their patent has been infringed.

DJI’s new micro-drone, the Mavic Mini, uses a different rotor blade attachement system and is not affected by this ruling.

And although the ruling does not mention the newly released Mavic Air 2, it’s possible it’s future sales could be impacted by this ruling as well.

Of the six DJI drones mentioned by name in the ITC ruling the Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro Platinum, Mavic Air and Spark drones are no longer available for purchase. This will help contain the amount of any settlement and dampen the future impact of any sales embargo or penalties in the United States.

Future changes to the regulation of unmanned aircraft in the United States has the potential to ground much of DJI’s older models as new features become mandatory, such as ADS-B sensors which make a drone pilot aware of nearby manned aircraft.

The timing and outcome of the ITC decision could not have come at a worse time for DJI.  Sales of drones into DJI’s biggest market, the United States, were significantly impacted by the Trump trade tariffs and were just beginning to rebound when the COVID-19 pandemic hit causing massive disruption to incomes and supply chains.

Resolution of this dispute could happen two ways. Autel could negotiate a settlement with DJI or pursue litigation. Either way, the final result will likely result in significant monetary award to Autel.

Autel released a new folding quadcopter, the Autel EVO II, at CES2020 in January of this year and experienced delays in shipping the product to buyers due to COVID-19.

The new Autel EVO II is the first pro-sumer drone to seriously challenge DJI’s dominance with recreational flyers, and it’s also the first folding drone to feature inter-changeable gimbals and 8K video capture.

Stay tuned for continuing details on this developing story.