DJI loses lawsuit over classification as Chinese military company

A federal choose has rejected drone maker DJI’s efforts to get off a Division of Protection checklist of Chinese language army firms.

U.S. District Choose Paul Friedman ruled Friday that the DoD had offered “substantial proof” that DJI contributes “to the Chinese language protection industrial base.”

Pointing to the usage of modified DJI drones within the battle between Russia and Ukraine, Friedman wrote, “Whether or not or not DJI’s insurance policies prohibit army use is irrelevant. That doesn’t change the truth that DJI’s know-how has each substantial theoretical and precise army software.”

On the identical time, Choose Friedman rejected a number of the DoD’s different rationales for the itemizing.

Different authorities companies, together with the Division of Commerce and the Treasury Division, placed DJI on similar lists earlier than it was added to the DoD checklist in 2022.

When DJI filed the lawsuit final 12 months, the corporate mentioned it was “not owned or managed by the Chinese language army” and that “the DoD itself acknowledges that DJI makes shopper and business drones, not army drones.”

The lawsuit additionally mentioned the corporate had “suffered ongoing monetary and reputational hurt, together with misplaced enterprise” on account of the itemizing.

TechCrunch has reached out to DJI for remark. The corporate told Reuters that it’s contemplating its authorized choices and mentioned Choose Friedman’s determination was “based mostly on a single rationale that applies to many firms which have by no means been listed.”
DJI faces different authorized hurdles in the USA, together with a potential ban on sales beginning in December until a nationwide safety company determines that its drones don’t “pose an unacceptable danger to the nationwide safety of the USA.”