Last August, Bloomberg reported that Panasonic had filed a lawsuit against Xiaomi and OPPO in court due to the long-standing dispute over standard essential patents in the field of cellular communications, which had not been resolved for many years, leading to the two sides ending up in court.

According to the public information disclosed at that time, Panasonic alone filed three patent infringement lawsuits against Xiaomi in the Unified Patent Court of Europe. In addition, Panasonic also took legal action against Xiaomi in local courts in the UK and Germany.

However, while this tug-of-war initially caused quite a stir, it actually fizzled out after just a week, leaving many netizens disappointed as they had barely finished their snacks.

One might have expected the two companies to eventually shake hands and make peace, albeit without an official announcement. However, Xiaomi recently struck back.

According to Tianyancha data, Xiaomi is suing four companies - Panasonic Electric Works, Panasonic Home Appliances, Xiamen Panasonic Electronic Information, and Wuhan Guanghe Century Trading - for infringing on its invention patents.

The court in charge of the case is the Intermediate People's Court of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, and the trial date is scheduled for November 8.

Image source: Tianyancha

With this move, Xiaomi seems to be taking a tough stance against Panasonic. Could this mean a real rift between the two companies?

Actually, despite their patent disputes, the two companies have always maintained good relations within the industry, as many Xiaomi fans are already aware.

In 2021, Panasonic Lighting began collaborating with Xiaomi IoT, launching 13 lighting products, and the cooperation between the two companies has only grown since then.

Just two years later, Panasonic Air Conditioning also struck a chord with Xiaomi's major appliances, officially signing a strategic cooperation agreement and continuously expanding their cooperation to include refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and other household appliances.

Moreover, Panasonic has also partnered with Xiaomi's investment portfolio. Recently, it was reported that Tangshan Panasonic and Xiaoyu Intelligent Manufacturing reached a strategic cooperation to develop intelligent welding robots. The latter is an embodied AI enterprise invested by Xiaomi.

In this sense, Xiaomi and Panasonic truly embody the saying "dear brothers, clear accounts." While firing patent cold arrows at each other, they also maintain a close and complementary relationship, just like the clear demarcation between the Chu and Han dynasties.