DJI Sues Insta360 Over Six Patents Three Days Before Avata 360 Launch

DJI filed a patent ownership lawsuit against Insta360’s parent company, Arashi Vision, in the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on March 23, 2026, targeting six patents it claims belong to DJI under Chinese intellectual property law.

According to the South China Morning Post, which broke the story, this marks the first time DJI has filed a patent ownership dispute in China. The Shenzhen court accepted the case. Arashi Vision shares closed down 7 percent on Monday at CNY181.15 ($26.23), according to Yicai Global, underperforming a broader Shanghai market that itself fell 3.6 percent.

DJI did not respond to a request for comment. The filing came three days before the DJI Avata 360 launches on March 26, putting DJI in direct competition with Insta360’s Antigravity A1 in the same week it sues the company behind it.

Insta360 founder JK Liu fired back the same day in a detailed statement on Weibo, rejecting every element of DJI’s claim. He also revealed that Insta360 has identified 28 of its own patents covering DJI products but has chosen not to file suit on any of them.

DJI Claims Service Inventions Under Chinese Patent Law

DJI’s legal argument rests on a specific provision of Chinese intellectual property law. Under Chinese law, innovations created within one year of an employee’s departure from a company, if directly related to their previous duties, are legally considered to have been created for the original employer. DJI argues the six disputed patents meet that standard. The patents reportedly cover core drone technologies including flight control systems, structural design, and image processing.

A person familiar with the matter told Yicai Global that some inventors were listed as “requesting anonymity” in Arashi Vision’s domestic Chinese patent filings, but their real names were disclosed in the corresponding international PCT filings where full disclosure is required. Cross-referencing those names reportedly reveals former core DJI research and development engineers who had direct access to flight control and imaging technologies during their tenure at DJI.

JK Liu: The Key Patent Is a Single-Button Trick Nobody Is Using

Liu’s Weibo statement pushes back on each of DJI’s claims directly. On the substance of the patents, he says the most relevant drone flight control patent covers a narrow feature: a one-button “building dive” shot for FPV flight. He says the idea was his own and that he was personally involved in refining and approving it. He also notes the feature has never been implemented in any product due to current flight restrictions. His position: “If DJI wanted this patent, they could’ve just asked for it.”

On the anonymous inventor filings, Liu says withholding inventor names in early domestic filings is a standard Insta360 practice to protect employees from being targeted by recruiters, with names disclosed later in required international filings. He adds this practice applies across all of Insta360’s filings, not only those involving ex-DJI personnel. “If our motive were as DJI claims,” Liu writes, “we wouldn’t have used these names at all.” He also notes that most of the drone-related patents at the center of the dispute were filed more than four years ago and are no longer central to Insta360’s current product roadmap. “Since then, our product roadmap has changed significantly, and many patents have never been used,” he writes.

Insta360 Has 28 Patents It Has Not Filed On DJI

The most pointed part of Liu’s response is a number: 28. He says Insta360’s team identified that DJI products could fall within the scope of 28 Insta360 patents: 11 hardware and structural patents, 8 software-method patents, 6 control-method patents, and 3 accessory patents. Insta360 has not filed suit on any of them. “As a smaller company with limited resources, we prioritize innovation over litigation,” Liu writes. Insta360 recorded its fastest growth and highest revenue in Q4 2025, even as larger competitors engaged in price wars.

That restraint has a stated limit. Liu says Insta360 would only deploy that patent portfolio if its ability to innovate or ship products is directly threatened. His specific example: if Insta360 were blocked from making drones. The timing of that line is hard to miss. The Avata 360 launches tomorrow. Insta360’s Antigravity A1 sold more than CNY30 million ($4.3 million) in its first 48 hours on the Chinese market last December, according to Liu.

GoPro Lost This Same Fight Four Weeks Ago

Liu draws a direct line between DJI’s lawsuit and the GoPro case Insta360 just won. On February 26, 2026, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a final determination in Investigation No. 337-TA-1400, clearing Insta360 on five utility patents GoPro had asserted covering stabilization, horizon leveling, distortion correction, and aspect ratio conversion. The ITC found those patents were invalid, not infringed, or both. Insta360 spent over $10 million defending itself, per Liu’s statement, and won on every technical patent. The full ruling is documented in Insta360’s press release.

Liu says he understands the logic: “Established players hate losing market share.” His spokesperson adds that attempts by early industry players to suppress competition through legal tactics are “ultimately bound to fail.” Liu says Insta360 will wait for the court’s evidence collection and investigation to run its course, calling it common in tech. Insta360 plans to launch seven to eight new products and series this year, including gimbal cameras, lavalier microphones, and a second drone. The Insta360 Luna pocket gimbal camera is already confirmed for the first half of 2026.

DroneXL’s Take

I’ve covered DJI entering new markets for years, and the playbook is consistent: launch a better product at a lower price and let the hardware do the talking. Filing a patent suit three days before your competing product launches is a different move. It is not confidence. It reads like a company that wants to create legal uncertainty around Insta360’s IP position at exactly the moment buyers are deciding between two 360 drones. Our March 15 pricing analysis put the Avata 360 at roughly 31 percent of the Antigravity A1’s original $1,599 list price. Antigravity has already responded: a 20% Spring Sale running March 16 through April 16 drops the Standard Bundle to $1,279, the deepest discount since launch. That follows a 15% sale in January. Two pre-launch discounts in three months tells you everything about the pressure this category is under. DJI doesn’t need legal pressure to win this market. The price already does that work.

The fact that this is DJI’s first domestic patent lawsuit in China is worth pausing on. DJI has fought patent battles abroad for years. Filing at home, against a Shenzhen neighbor, in a Chinese court, signals something has changed internally about how DJI views this competition. The GoPro precedent provides some comfort for Insta360, but the Chinese court system operates under different standards. The “service inventions” doctrine has real legal teeth, and if the evidence shows the disputed patents were genuinely built on work done at DJI, the outcome is not a foregone conclusion for either side.

The Avata 360 launches tomorrow regardless. The case will grind through Chinese courts while both companies compete on store shelves. Watch for Insta360 to cut the Antigravity A1 price or accelerate its second drone before summer. The 28 counter-patents Liu put on the table sit in reserve. That is the real deterrent, and DJI knows it.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.