For years, DJI and Insta360 stayed in their own lanes. DJI owned drones. Insta360 owned 360-degree cameras and action cams. Everyone knew who did what.
That changed in 2025 — and it’s now turned into one of the most closely watched IP battles in Chinese tech.
How It Started
Both companies decided to invade each other’s territory.
DJI launched the Osmo 360, a direct shot at Insta360’s core business. Insta360 launched Antigravity, a drone sub-brand aimed squarely at DJI’s turf.
Direct competition followed. Then the lawsuits started.
The Legal Fight
March 2026: DJI files a patent-ownership lawsuit against Insta360’s parent company, Arashi Vision, in the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. Six patents are in dispute — covering drone flight control, structural design, and image processing. This is DJI’s first-ever domestic patent lawsuit.
The timing wasn’t subtle either — the suit landed just three days before DJI unveiled its first 360-degree drone, a category Insta360 had pioneered through Antigravity.
Insta360 hit back. The company filed counterclaims in the US (Eastern District of Texas), asserting five of its own patents covering gimbal stabilization, gimbal directional control, camera smooth stabilization, telemetry overlay, and panoramic video stabilization.
Insta360’s CEO, Jingkang Liu, didn’t hold back publicly either. He referenced the company’s earlier legal war with GoPro — where Insta360 reportedly spent well over a billion dollars defending itself — and made clear the company has the appetite for round two.
The Twist
At the end of June 2026, both companies quietly dropped all four of their Texas lawsuits. No settlement was announced.
That might sound like the fight is over. It isn’t.
The real battle — DJI’s original patent-ownership case against Arashi Vision — is still very much alive in the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, where it’s been sitting since March. That’s the case that could actually determine who owns what going forward, and it’s playing out entirely on Chinese soil, under Chinese patent law.
Why This Matters
This isn’t a foreign multinational vs. a Chinese company story. It’s two of China’s most globally recognized consumer tech brands fighting each other, in a Chinese court, over technology both companies built their reputations on.
It’s part of a broader pattern: Chinese companies increasingly using their own patent portfolios offensively against each other, not just against foreign competitors. Xiaomi alone is currently facing (or fighting) patent suits from Midea, AUX, Datang Mobile, Bull Group, and more.
As Chinese companies mature from fast-followers into genuine IP holders, expect more of this — strong domestic players staking out territory in court, not just in the market.
Sources: DroneXL, Asia IP, and company statements, current as of early July 2026.