美东时间3月12日，美国华盛顿特区地方法院就小米公司诉美国国防部一案颁布初步禁制令，禁止美国国防部将小米列入“军工企业”名单的政策自本周起生效。科文顿·柏灵律师事务所在本案中为小米公司提供辩护。
1月14日，小米公司和其他八家中国企业被列入“军工企业”名单，根据时任美国总统特朗普的一份行政令，美国投资者将被禁止投资列入该名单的企业。针对于小米的投资禁令原定于3月15日生效。1月29日，小米提起诉讼，要求法院判定将小米列入该名单是“非法和违宪的”。
科文顿·柏灵律师事务所全球诉讼业务负责人John Hall、前任美国司法部上诉诉讼负责人Beth Brinkmann，以及合伙人Alexander Berengaut担任小米的代理律师。此前他们也曾代理Tiktok及字节跳动起诉美国政府。
该案法官认为，美国国防部仅依靠引用小米年报中的两点信息，就笼统得出了小米属于“军工企业”的结论，违反了美国《行政程序法》。这两点信息为：小米曾得到中国工信部表彰；小米投资于5G和AI行业。
小米代理律师John Hall在此前的庭审中指出，中国工信部表彰是由多部门联合颁发的，获奖者甚至包括老干妈、海澜之家等；此外， 小米投资于5G和AI是出于提高竞争力，许多在华的美国企业也投资于这两个领域，是否也应被列入“军工企业”。
根据美国法律，临时禁制令在庭审过程中发出，目的是在最终判决前维持现状，防止当事人遭受不可逆转的损失。
小米发言人在一份新闻稿中表示：“我们会继续请求法院最终判决该政令对小米无效。”
3月4日，与小米同批被纳入军工企业名单的出行数据服务公司箩筐技术也向华盛顿联邦法院提起诉讼，要求法院判决将其撤下该名单。
据路透社报道，小米获得的临时禁制令鼓舞了其它被前总统特朗普列入禁止投资黑名单的中国企业也考虑状告美国政府，熟悉此事的律师表示，部分遭禁的中国企业目前正与Steptoe & Johnson及Hogan Lovells等律师事务所接洽。
Covington leads Xiaomi’s challenge to the U.S. military company list
A U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked the Department of Defense from forcing American investors to divest from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp on the grounds the company has ties to China’s military. Covington & Burling has represented Xiaomi in the case.
The Defense Department added Xiaomi and eight other firms to a list that requires Americans to sell their interests in the firms by the deadline of March 15 in mid-January. Xiaomi filed the lawsuit in late-January, claiming the movement to be “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
Covington’s global litigation practice chair John Hall, former Justice Department appellate litigation head Beth Brinkmann and Alexander Berengaut represent Xiaomi in the case. The trio has also represented TikTok and ByteDance in their lawsuit against a Trump executive order.
The judge said the designation of Xiaomi as a Chinese military company was “arbitrary and capricious”, and the court “concludes that defendants have not made the case that the national security interests at stake here are compelling.”
During early hearing, John Hall has pointed out the Defense Department had come to the conclusion based on two simple facts that Xiaomi was once praised by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and that the company had invested in areas of 5G and AI.
“Xiaomi plans to continue to request that the court declare the designation unlawful and to permanently remove the designation,” the company later said in one press release.
On March 4, another Chinese company, Luokung Technology, which was blacklisted together with Xiaomi, also brought its lawsuit to a federal court, requiring to be removed from the "Communist Chinese Military Companies" list.
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