Chinese vendor Huawei has won a preliminary injunction in a US district court that stops Motorola from trading Huawei’s intellectual property to European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).
In a statement released on Tuesday, Huawei said that the…
Chinese vendor Huawei has won a preliminary injunction in a US district court that stops Motorola from trading Huawei’s intellectual property to European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).
In a statement released on Tuesday, Huawei said that the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had also ruled that Motorola must hire a third party to ensure that Huawei’s confidential information is removed.
Under the ruling, Huawei is also able to audit the record of service that NSN performs on any Motorola-branded system that includes Huawei products.
The reason for the injunction is NSN’s acquisition of Motorola’s network business, which was agreed in July 2010.
Huawei said it hoped that Motorola would now focus on ensuring that Huawei’s intellectual property is well-protected.
It also made clear that it remains interested in investing in the US.
It said: “This equitable result is the basis of Huawei’s continued and wide cooperation with many US companies. Moreover, it gives us the confidence to increase our investment in the US.”
Huawei reportedly made a higher bid than NSN for the Motorola assets, but failed to win the contract because of national security fears in the US regarding its perceived links to the Chinese military.
NSN’s acquisition of the assets has also been slowed because of the delay in receiving regulatory approval from the Chinese authorities. The deal had received antitrust approval by other regulators around the world, including the EU and US.
NSN acknowledged the judgement of the US District Court and said that it would study the ruling in detail.
It added that “we have no interest in getting unlawful access to Huawei’s trade secrets, our key motivation is to expand our presence in key regions, such as the US and Japan, and enhance our relationships with important customers to whom we can bring additional value”.
NSN also said that it would continue to work with the Chinese authorities to get the antitrust approval required to complete the acquisition.
It said: “It remains our ambition to bring Motorola’s talented team on board as soon as possible.”
