Dji Loses Lawsuit Over Pentagon's 'chinese Military Company' List

It's been astir a twelvemonth since DJI sued nan Department of Defense complete its nickname arsenic a "Chinese subject company." On Friday, a judge ruled against nan drone maker. US District Judge Paul Friedman said nan DoD presented capable grounds that DJI contributes to nan Chinese military.

"Indeed, DJI acknowledges that its exertion tin and is utilized successful subject conflict but asserts that its policies prohibit specified use," Friedman wrote successful his opinion. "Whether aliases not DJI's policies prohibit subject usage is irrelevant. That does not alteration nan truth that DJI's exertion has some important theoretical and existent subject application."

DJI challenged nan nickname successful October 2024. It told nan tribunal it is "neither owned nor controlled by nan Chinese military." The institution claimed successful its filing that it suffered "ongoing financial and reputational harm" arsenic a consequence of nan inclusion. The nickname tin forestall companies from accessing grants, contracts, loans and different programs.

The drone shaper has a contentious history pinch nan US government. The Department of Commerce added it and 77 different companies to its Entity List successful 2020, efficaciously blocking US businesses from dealing pinch them. A twelvemonth later, nan Treasury Department included DJI connected its "Chinese military-industrial analyzable companies" list. That nickname was for its alleged engagement successful nan surveillance of Uyghur Muslim group successful China. Last year, US customs began holding up DJI's user drones astatine nan border.

The institution now faces a imaginable import prohibition successful nan US by nan extremity of this year. The prohibition was initially scheduled for 2024. But a clause successful nan $895 cardinal US Defense Bill gave it a twelvemonth to beryllium that its products don't airs a nationalist information risk. In March, DJI pleaded pinch 5 nationalist information agencies (DHS, DoD, FBI, NSA, and ODNI) to statesman evaluating its products "right away."