Chinese phone maker threatens legal action against Polaroid for ripping off rotating camera design

Oppo N1 (left), Polaroid Selfie (right)

In an ironic twist, a Chinese smartphone maker has all but accused an American brand of infringing on its patents.

Shenzhen-based Oppo is now weighing the possibility of filing a lawsuit against Polaroid for the latter’s new phone unveiled at CES last week. The Polaroid Selfie touts a rotating camera, which "has a remarkably similar design to the patented rotating camera phone Oppo N1," according to a statement from Oppo.

Oppo has not licensed the design of the rotating camera to any third parties […] We Will continue to keep track of the event and reserve the right to take further legal action.

Oppo N1 (left), Polaroid Selfie (right)

The camera in question sits on top of the smartphone and can spin to face the user, which makes for better selfies than the typical low-resolution front camera. Oppo’s design has carried over from the N1 (launched in September 2013) to the newer N3, which we reviewed favorably last week.

Polaroid responded to Tech in Asia‘s request for comment on the matter with the following statement from CEO Scott W. Hardy:

Polaroid and its mobile phone licensee partners are respectful of third party intellectual party rights. Oppo has not contacted us regarding their concerns, so we have not had an opportunity to evaluate the claims asserted and are unable to comment further on this matter at this time.

To be clear, the Polaroid Selfie was not actually designed by Polaroid. It’s actually just a rebranded Chinese phone originally called the iNew V8. The V8 was widely deemed an Oppo N1 clone when it was released in mid-2014.

That won’t absolve Polaroid of responsibility if Oppo wants to take the case further, however.