A federal judge has rejected drone maker DJI’s efforts to be removed from a Department of Defense list of Chinese military companies. US District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that the Department of Defense had provided substantial evidence that DJI contributes to the Chinese defense industrial base.
Pointing to the use of modified DJI drones in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Judge Friedman wrote that whether or not DJI’s policies prohibit military use is irrelevant. He stated that this does not change the fact that DJI’s technology has both substantial theoretical and actual military application. At the same time, the judge rejected some of the Department of Defense’s other rationales for the listing.
Other government agencies, including the Department of Commerce and the Treasury Department, had placed DJI on similar lists before it was added to the Department of Defense list in 2022. When DJI filed the lawsuit last year, the company stated it was not owned or controlled by the Chinese military. The company also said the Department of Defense itself acknowledges that DJI makes consumer and commercial drones, not military drones. The lawsuit further stated the company had suffered ongoing financial and reputational harm, including lost business, as a result of the listing.
DJI has indicated it is considering its legal options and said Judge Friedman’s decision was based on a single rationale that applies to many companies that have never been listed. The company faces other legal hurdles in the United States, including a potential ban on sales starting in December unless a national security agency determines that its drones do not pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.