Motorola Solutions and Huawei have agreed to settle all ongoing litigation between the two companies, including a dispute over trade secrets and a suit which blocked Nokia Siemens Networks’ acquisition of Motorola’s networks business.
Under the terms of today’s settlement, Huawei will withdraw its suit against Motorola and Nokia Siemens, removing a major hurdle for Nokia Siemens’ $1.2 billion deal with Motorola.
Huawei sued in January to stop the deal, alleging that Motorola would release its trade secrets to Nokia Siemens, and a judge later barred Motorola from disclosing any of Huawei’s confidential information to Nokia Siemens.
The three companies have agreed to a contract that allows Motorola to transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei to Nokia Siemens for a fee. Nokia Siemens, in term, will be able to use Huawei’s confidential information to service the networks Motorola deployed worldwide using Huawei’s products and technologies.
In a joint statement with Huawei, Motorola Solutions President and CEO Greg Brown said the company regretted the dispute with Huawei.
“After reviewing the facts, we decided to resolve these matters and return to our traditional relationship of confidence and trust,” Brown said.
Motorola and Huawei began working together on radio access network and core network equipment in 2000. Motorola resold Huawei’s wireless network equipment under its own brand, spending nearly $880 million on Huawei gear over the course of the two companies’ 10-year relationship. Motorola was also given access to Huawei’s confidential intellectual property for the equipment, the source of Huawei’s lawsuit.
The settlement also puts an end to Motorola’s 2008 trade secrets lawsuit against Huawei, which alleges that Huawei and Lemko employees conspired to steal its confidential intellectual property.
Huawei maintains that it created its products without the help of Motorola’s confidential intellectual property. In a statement, Huawei board member Guo Ping characterized the companies’ lawsuits as “misunderstandings.”
“Huawei acted properly and above board at all times and developed its products independently and without the use of any Motorola trade secrets,” Ping said. “With the resolution of these cases, and the misunderstandings put to rest, Huawei is pleased to move forward with its efforts to provide innovative solutions to its customers.”
Filed Under: Devices
