Motorola Sued by Huawei for Patent Infringement

Telecom services provider Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. filed a lawsuit on Monday against Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks for intellectual property infringement.

The Shenzhen, People's Republic of China-based Huawei asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to prevent Motorola from illegally transferring Huawei's intellectual property (IP) to Nokia Siemens Networks.

Huawei said it took this action as Nokia Siemens Networks seeks to complete its $1.2 billion acquisition of Motorola's wireless network business.

Since 2000, Huawei and Motorola have had a cooperative relationship in the radio access network and core network businesses, where Motorola has resold Huawei wireless network products to customers under the Motorola name. During this period, Motorola was provided with products and confidential Huawei IP developed by Huawei's team of more than 10,000 engineers.

Since the July 2010 announcement by Nokia Siemens Networks regarding its purchase of Motorola's wireless network business, Huawei has tried to ensure that Motorola does not transfer this confidential information to Nokia Siemens Networks.

However, Motorola has not responded with assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that information to Nokia Siemens Networks. If Huawei's proprietary commercial property and information is transferred to a third party, Huawei will suffer irreparable commercial damage, the company said.

Motorola's failure to adopt measures sufficient to ensure that Huawei's proprietary information remains confidential has compelled Huawei to file for appropriate legal protection of its rights.

Huawei hereby sues to obtain preliminary injunctive relief to prevent such harm pending an arbitration under the agreements, including an order that Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks modify their transaction to prevent the transfer to Nokia Siemens Networks of the portion of Motorola’s wireless business related to GSM and UMTS networks until an arbitral tribunal is able to adjudicate the matter.