DJI sues Insta360 over patents ahead of 360-drone launch

DJI has sued Shenzhen rival Insta360, alleging it infringed six patents in a case filed with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court ahead of DJI’s planned launch of its first 360-degree drone.

Reports by Chinese media said the disputed patents cover drone flight control, structural design, and image processing, and said DJI argued some patents were based on inventions made by one or more former employees within a year of leaving the company.

Chinese law generally treats innovations created within a year of an employee’s departure as belonging to the original employer if related to their previous regular duties, while Insta360 CEO Liu Jingkang said on Weibo that an internal review said available evidence indicates the ideas came from within Insta360.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The lawsuit may be more strategic than it appears

DJI’s lawsuit became public three days before it planned to launch its first 360-degree drone, a niche Insta360 helped create 1.
Insta360 founder and CEO Liu Jingkang said DJI products could fit within 28 Insta360 patents, yet he added that Insta360 chose not to sue 2.
Liu said one flight-control patent covers an FPV (first-person view)-style one-click “building dive” feature that was never added 2.
DJI says the patents at issue are “neither core nor significant” and the case does not meet its threshold for major litigation disclosure 3.

China’s employee patent law is a competitive weapon in this dispute

The dispute leans on a Chinese rule that can assign inventions to a former employer when they are made within one year of leaving and tie back to prior job duties 1.
Past rulings in China often side with companies, which can discourage engineers from moving between competing tech firms 4.
Insta360 said it removes some inventors’ names from domestic filings to limit headhunting, then lists them in international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications 3.
A Chinese court loss would not immediately stop U.S. sales, but it could push Insta360 to redesign later products or pay for licenses, which may hurt global competition 4.