Huawei has filed a lawsuit to stop Nokia Siemens Networks acquisition of Motorola’s wireless networks business, alleging the $1.2 billion deal will release confidential information about Huawei’s technology to Nokia Siemens, a top competitor.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Huawei accused Motorola of breaching its contract and violating trade secret laws, and also alleged that Nokia Siemens was attempting to illegally procure Huawei’s trade secrets through the deal.
Huawei asked the court to issue an interim order stopping Nokia Siemens’ acquisition of Motorola’s network business until the three companies can resolve the alleged breach of trade secrets that would occur as a result of the buyout.
“If Huawei’s proprietary commercial property and information is transferred to a third party, Huawei will suffer irreparable commercial damage,” Huawei said in a statement.
Motorola and Huawei have worked together since 2000 on radio access network and core network equipment, and Motorola resold Huawei wireless network products to customers under its own brand. Motorola spent $878 million on Huawei equipment and was provided with confidential intellectual property over the course of its 10-year relationship with the Chinese handset and telecommunications equipment maker.
Huawei said Motorola has not assured it that it will prevent disclosure of confidential information to Nokia Siemens once the acquisition is completed, prompting Huawei to file suit. Nokia Siemens acquisition of Motorola was first announced in July of last year.
Representatives from Motorola and Nokia Siemens did not reply to requests for comment by press time.
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