Chinese mobile phone maker OnePlus has been restricted from selling and advertising its invitation-only martphone OnePlus One in India by the Delhi High Court on the issue of Cyanogen branding on its phones.
Indian mobile phone-maker Micromax has entered into an exclusive agreement with Cyanogen in India. This hit OnePlus, which announced the launch of OnePlus One in India on December 2 with the CyanogenMod.
Micromax’s pleaMicromax has taken OnePlus to the court over the issue of Cyanogen branding as well as to stop the company from selling the products in India.
However, Vikas Agarwal, General Manager of OnePlus India, said the company has been allowed to clear its existing inventory in India, but restricted from importing any more units of the phone.
The Chinese handset-maker is also developing its own Android-based operating system, which would be launched by February.
In a statement, the company said: “In accordance with a judgment passed by the Delhi High Court, we will no longer be producing the OnePlus One with CyanogenMod to be sold in India. We are still fully committed to serving our users in the region and, in light of this decision, are working to find a solution that will allow us to continue operations as soon as possible.”
Micromax told the court, “Micromax incurred major expenses for creation of a brand exclusivity for providing to Indian customers mobile phones with Cyanogen operating systems… it would suffer irreparable harm and loss if the defendants (OnePlus) are permitted to continue with their illegal acts in violation of the agreement between Micromax and Cyanogen.”
Following the deal between Micromax and Cyanogen, OnePlus phones launched in India with CyanogenMod would get updates. However, Indian customers who have bought OnePlus phones from outside the country would continue to get software updates, Cyanogen had confirmed in a blog post on December 7.