Last October, dronemaker DJI sued the US Department of Defense, arguing it should no longer face the stigma of being listed as a “Chinese Military Company” and continue to risk business as a result.

It just lost.

While US District Court judge Paul Friedman “cannot conclude” that DJI is “indirectly owned by the Chinese Communist Party,” he found that that DoD has broad discretion to decide which companies do and do not belong on the list of Chinese military companies.

Friedman concluded there was enough evidence that DJI is supported and recognized by the Chinese government to call it a “a military-civil fusion contributor,” and that state-sponsored entity Chengtong has “some unspecified ownership stake” in the company. Just being a “military-civil fusion contributor” is enough to label

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