Insta360 Countersues DJI in the US as Patent War Over Gimbal and 360° Camera Tech Escalates

The battle between Insta360 and DJI has moved beyond product launches and into the courtroom, turning one of the creator-camera industry’s most competitive rivalries into a high-stakes patent fight in the United States.

Insta360 has filed two countersuits against DJI in the US, accusing the drone and camera giant of infringing patents tied to gimbal stabilization, directional control, smooth camera stabilization, telemetry overlay, and panoramic video stabilization technology. The legal response comes after DJI filed its own lawsuits against Insta360 on June 10, the same day Insta360 launched its Luna Ultra gimbal camera.

At the center of the dispute is a fast-growing creator-tech category: pocket-sized gimbal cameras designed for vloggers, filmmakers, livestreamers, travelers, and solo content creators who want smooth footage without carrying a larger camera rig. DJI has long been a dominant name in this segment through its Osmo Pocket line, while Insta360 has built its reputation around action cameras, 360° capture, modular camera systems, and stabilization-focused creator tools.

Now, both companies are accusing each other of crossing the line between competition and infringement.

A Rivalry That Turned Legal on Launch Day

The timing of DJI’s lawsuits was central to Insta360’s response. DJI filed two lawsuits against Insta360 on June 10, the day Insta360 launched the Luna Ultra in the US. DJI is seeking a permanent injunction that would ban the Luna Ultra from the US market.

DJI’s legal action targets Insta360’s Luna line of gimbal cameras, including the Luna Ultra, supporting accessories, and the Insta360 mobile application. In one of its claims, DJI alleges that “Insta360’s new Luna line of gimbal cameras, including but not limited to the Luna Ultra, supporting accessories, and the Insta360 mobile application (collectively, the “Accused Products”) blatantly copy DJI’s patented inventions wholesale,” says DJI

DJI’s first lawsuit reportedly alleges two design patent violations, claiming that Insta360 copied elements associated with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera. According to DJI, “the Accused Products are handheld gimbal cameras with integrated optics—the same product architecture pioneered by the DJI Osmo Pocket—and Insta360 markets them expressly as competitors to DJI’s Osmo Pocket line.”

A second DJI lawsuit alleges four utility patent violations related to the gimbal camera’s stabilization, tracking features, and operation.

For DJI, the argument is clear: the Luna Ultra and related products allegedly imitate patented aspects of the Osmo Pocket ecosystem. For Insta360, the lawsuits are not only rejected but portrayed as a strategic attempt to blunt the momentum of a newly launched competitor.

Insta360 Fires Back With Its Own Patent Claims

Insta360’s countersuits shift the focus from whether Luna Ultra resembles DJI’s Osmo Pocket line to whether DJI’s own products rely on patented Insta360 technology.

The company says DJI infringed patents related to five major technical areas: gimbal stabilization, gimbal directional control, camera smooth stabilization, telemetry overlay, and panoramic video stabilization. Insta360 says those technologies are incorporated into several DJI products, including the Osmo Pocket series, Ronin/RS series, Osmo Mobile series, and Osmo 360.

That makes the dispute broader than one product launch. Insta360’s legal response reaches across DJI’s creator and professional stabilization portfolio, from pocket cameras to mobile gimbals and larger camera-support systems.

“At Insta360, we prefer to let our products do the talking. But we are not afraid of a legal battle when challenged. We are fully committed to protecting our innovations and will take decisive action to defend our intellectual property from infringement,” said JK Liu, Founder of Insta360.

The statement signals that Insta360 intends to frame the case not as a defensive maneuver, but as a broader fight over who owns key technologies powering modern stabilized video capture.

Why Gimbal and 360° Camera Patents Matter

The legal claims may sound technical, but the underlying technologies are central to how modern creator cameras work.

Gimbal stabilization allows a small handheld camera to keep footage smooth even when the user is walking, running, turning, or filming handheld. Directional control determines how the camera follows movement, locks onto a subject, pans, tilts, and responds to user input. Smooth stabilization software helps refine footage beyond the mechanical movement of the gimbal itself.

Telemetry overlay technology can add data such as speed, orientation, position, movement, or other capture-related metrics to video. Panoramic video stabilization is especially important in 360° cameras, where footage must remain level and watchable even though the camera captures an entire scene around the user.

Together, these features are not minor extras. They define the experience of a pocket gimbal camera, an action camera, or a 360° camera. They also help separate high-end creator devices from ordinary phone accessories.

That is why this dispute matters: the patents in question cover the type of technology that makes small cameras usable for professional-looking content.

Luna Ultra Becomes the Flashpoint

The Insta360 Luna Ultra is the product that transformed the rivalry into a courtroom fight. It launched just days before Insta360’s countersuits and entered the market as a direct challenger to DJI’s upcoming Osmo Pocket 4P.

The Luna Ultra is priced around $770. Insta360 said it saw “significant demand” in North America and ranked as the top seller in Amazon’s camcorder category in the US during its first 24 hours of availability.

That early commercial traction makes the lawsuit more consequential. A permanent injunction against Luna Ultra would not merely affect a niche device; it could interrupt Insta360’s attempt to establish itself in a category DJI has heavily influenced.

Insta360 has categorically rejected DJI’s claims that Luna Ultra infringes its patents.

“Luna Ultra is the result of years of independent R&D, not a response to any competitor’s product. Development began in 2020, with earlier Insta360 products including the ONE R, Link Series webcams, and Flow Series gimbals helping shape the technology and design direction behind Luna Ultra. DJI filing lawsuits on the same day we launched Luna Ultra speaks volumes—exposing their fear of competition from a highly competitive product,” added Liu.

That quote reveals the heart of Insta360’s defense. The company argues that Luna Ultra did not emerge as a copy of a rival camera, but as the product of a longer development path shaped by its own camera, webcam, and gimbal technologies.

DJI’s Position: Luna Ultra Is Too Close to Osmo Pocket

DJI’s claims rest partly on the visual and functional similarities between the Luna Ultra and its Osmo Pocket line. Both types of devices belong to the handheld gimbal-camera category, and both are aimed at creators who want compact, stabilized video.

The market overlap is obvious. A creator comparing devices for vlogging, travel filmmaking, product reviews, social video, or documentary-style content may naturally place the Luna Ultra and DJI Osmo Pocket models side by side.

DJI argues that the similarities go beyond shared category conventions. Its claims include alleged design patent violations and utility patent violations covering gimbal operation, subject tracking, and motor control.

Insta360’s response is that similarity within a product category is not the same thing as copying. Its countersuits also imply that DJI’s own product lines may rely on patented technologies developed by Insta360.

A Patent Fight With Business Consequences

The stakes are larger than damages or courtroom positioning. If DJI succeeds in securing a permanent injunction, Insta360 could be forced to stop selling the Luna line in the US. That would be a major setback for a product that reportedly saw strong early demand in North America.

If Insta360 succeeds in its countersuits, DJI could face pressure over multiple product lines, not just one device. Insta360’s claims name several DJI categories, including Osmo Pocket, Ronin/RS, Osmo Mobile, and Osmo 360 products.

That broad scope could complicate DJI’s US strategy at a time when regulatory pressures and market uncertainty already surround Chinese electronics brands operating in the country.

The dispute also comes during an unusually active period for creator-camera companies. GoPro recently released its Mission 1 Pro cinema camera, Insta360 launched Luna Ultra, and DJI is preparing its Osmo Pocket 4 Pro gimbal camera. The result is a market where innovation, pricing, design, and patent protection are colliding at once.

Why Creators Should Pay Attention

For most consumers, patent litigation feels distant until it changes what they can buy. In this case, the outcome could affect availability, pricing, product launches, and future feature development in the US.

If one side wins an injunction, creators may see fewer choices in the pocket gimbal market. If the dispute leads to licensing agreements, costs could influence product pricing. If both companies continue fighting, future launches may be shaped as much by legal strategy as by engineering.

The core issue is whether companies can build similar tools for the same creator use case without infringing each other’s intellectual property. Pocket gimbal cameras have a naturally constrained form factor: a camera head, a stabilizing mechanism, a handle, a display, and physical controls. That makes the boundary between category-standard design and patented invention especially important.

For vloggers and filmmakers, the immediate practical concern is whether the Luna Ultra remains widely available in the US. For the wider industry, the case could influence how aggressively companies protect camera stabilization, tracking, and 360° video patents going forward.

What Happens Next

The countersuits are still at an early stage, and the legal process could take time. The next phase will likely involve filings, responses, patent validity arguments, infringement analysis, and potential requests for injunctions or damages.

There are several possible outcomes. The companies could continue litigating until a court ruling clarifies whether the patents were infringed. They could reach a settlement or licensing agreement. One side could win a partial victory affecting only specific features or products. Or the dispute could expand further if additional claims are introduced.

For now, Insta360’s countersuits ensure that DJI is not the only company pressing patent claims in the US. What began as DJI’s attempt to block a rival camera has become a two-way legal battle over some of the most important technologies in stabilized creator video.

The Bigger Picture

The Insta360-DJI patent fight reflects a maturing creator-camera market. As devices become smaller, smarter, and more capable, the most valuable innovations are no longer just lenses and sensors. They include stabilization algorithms, subject tracking, gimbal control systems, panoramic correction, telemetry overlays, and software-driven shooting tools.

That is why this dispute matters beyond one camera launch. It is a fight over the technical foundation of a category that has become essential to modern content creation.

For Insta360, the countersuits are a declaration that it intends to defend its intellectual property and compete aggressively in the US. For DJI, the lawsuits are an attempt to protect the design and utility patents behind one of its most recognizable camera product lines.

The result is a legal confrontation that could shape the next generation of pocket gimbal cameras, 360° cameras, and creator-focused stabilization technology.