Huawei gets US court to restrain Motorola
Huawei Technologies, the mainland's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, won a court order in the United States that prevented Motorola from disclosing any of its confidential information to rival Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).
The Shenzhen-based Huawei has co-operated with Motorola in the radio access network and core network businesses since 2000.
It filed a lawsuit on Monday for a preliminary injunction to bar the transfer of trade secrets to NSN, which wants to complete a deal made in July to buy Motorola's wireless network business for US$1.2 billion.
The US District Court in Illinois granted Huawei a temporary restraining order against Motorola, independent public companies Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, and NSN, according to court filings obtained yesterday.
The presiding judge, Sharon Coleman, also ordered the defendants to notify the court and the plaintiff within 24 hours of any action taken by China's Ministry of Commerce on the pending purchase.
Regulators in the US and European Union have approved the NSN acquisition, which was expected to close in the first quarter of the year.
Huawei, Motorola and NSN have declined to comment on the case.
Motorola bought Huawei's GSM, 3G and other wireless infrastructure products and sold these to customers under its own brand. The US company also received confidential information on Huawei's product specifications, designs, software and hardware implementations, pricing and other commercial data.
Huawei says it has tried to ensure NSN will not get that data, but Motorola 'has not responded with assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that information to NSN'. It said the illegal transfer of its proprietary commercial property would result in 'irreparable commercial damage'.
