(Yicai) Dec. 17 -- Xiaomi has denied claims made by Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman and president of Gree Electric Appliances, that the Chinese electronics giant infringed patents and had to compensate China's biggest maker of air conditioners.

Xiaomi has not infringed any air conditioner patents and has not paid any relevant fines, Wang Hua, general manager of the Beijing-based company's public relations department, said on social media.

During a dialogue program yesterday, Dong said that Xiaomi had recently paid Gree CNY500,000 (USD68,650) for patent infringement. Gree did not respond to Yicai for more information on the matter.

Whether Xiaomi air conditioners are infringing patents is unclear, but many of its relevant research and development staff came from Gree, an industry veteran told Yicai yesterday. Based on rough estimates, Xiaomi's air conditioner segment hired more than a dozen former Gree technicians in the first half of this year, the person added.

A compensation of CNY500,000 is not particularly serious in the industry, a legal expert said to Yicai. The main demand in patent litigation is that the defendant stop using the patents, with the compensation amount depending more on the quantity and nature of the infringement, the person added.

On July 9, Gree said on Weibo that China's Supreme People's Court had ruled that an electric fan sold by Xiaomi infringed Gree's patent rights, and the defendant should pay the plaintiff CNY1.9 million (USD260,875) in damages and immediately stop making and selling the product.

However, the following day, a source from Xiaomi told Yicai that the company did not infringe on Gree's smart electric fan patent, but a supplier it invested in did. Xiaomi helps Dream Maker Zhejiang Technology, which Gree successfully sued, with sales and promotions, but it is not responsible for the supplier's daily management and operation, the person pointed out.

Xiaomi's air conditioner shipments soared more than 55 percent to 1.7 million units in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to its latest financial report.

Xiaomi ranks fourth behind Gree, Midea Group, and Haier Group in China's household air conditioners market, industry veterans told Yicai. Xiaomi has not taken a big chunk of the global market yet, while Midea, Gree, Haier, Hisense Group, TCL Technology Group, and Aux Air Conditioning ship over 10 million units a year, they pointed out.

Xiaomi has 2,144 air conditioner patents as of yesterday, with 172 being accepted. In comparison, Gree owns 51,009 patents in the field.

Editor: Martin Kadiev