Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra says firm strengthening patent war chest ahead of entry into US market

Fast-growing Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is strengthening its patents in preparation for its entry into the US market, head of international operations Hugo Barra told Bloomberg Television on Thursday, without offering a time table.

The company has already encountered intellectual property hurdles in India, where a patent infringement complaint from telecom equipment giant Ericsson briefly halted sales of its handsets late last year.

Xiaomi executives have acknowledged that the five-year old startup’s thin portfolio is a major weakness, and the company has avoided entering markets with strong IP law enforcement.

Former Google executive Barra told Bloomberg TV in San Francisco that Xiaomi phones would not land on US shores for “potentially much more than a year”.

Barra said the maker of the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro smartphones would continue to build on its 2,000-patent war chest, which is dwarfed by the IP portfolios held by major international players, and Xiaomi would “meticulously talk to everyone” to hammer out licensing agreements.

The company is valued at US$45 billion by private investors on the belief that it could sweep through the world with its stylish, iPhone-like devices which sell for half the price.