DJI Lands Partial Win in Legal Fight Over ‘Chinese Military Company’ Designation
A U.S. Court of Appeals has partially reversed a lower court’s ruling regarding DJI’s label as a Chinese Military Company, sending it back to the lower court for further review.
Last year, DJI lost its lawsuit against the Petagon over its designation as a Chinese Military Company. DJI appealed, and did emerge with a small victory on Friday.
As is always the case with legal battles, there are a lot of moving parts and more than can be summarized in one grand statement. That said, DJI did score at least a partial win here. In summary, the D.C. appeals court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings.
It upheld the lower court’s Government Assistance finding, which basically says that DJI knowingly accepts Chinese government assistance, grounded in DJI’s formal recognition as a “National Enterprise Technology Center” (NETC) by China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Two of DJI’s claims were rejected: one, that its constitutional due process was violated, and two, that the argument that the Department of Defense (DoD) was selectively enforcing its rules on other companies with NETC status (Nokia Bell, Volkswagen, and Nissan are mentioned).
But the Appeals Court did reverse one finding: what is called “contribution.” The Court ruled in favor of DJI on whether it “contributes to the Chinese defense industrial base,” with the reason being that the DoD redacted the entire section explaining its rationale in the unclassified record. It has remanded the case back to the lower court, where it is to evaluate whether the DoD’s actual classified rationale supports the finding that DJI contributes to the Chinese defense industrial base.
“DJI welcomes today’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and sent the case back for further consideration,” a DJI spokesperson tells PetaPixel.
“The Court’s finding that the public record contained insufficient evidence is a significant step toward correcting an unjustified designation. The decision reinforces what DJI has consistently maintained: DJI is not a military company. We are a privately held company that has revolutionized the consumer and commercial drone markets, consistently condemned the use of our products in combat, and taken active steps to prevent it. We remain committed to the responsible development of civilian technologies, from drones to handheld imaging products. We look forward to continuing to set the record straight as the case moves forward.”
The full ruling can be downloaded and read here.
Image creditsDJI
