Huawei denies new tech theft claim and accuses the US of trying to disrupt the company
- Chinese telecoms giant dismisses Portuguese inventor’s allegation of patent theft as an attempt to ‘take advantage of the current geopolitical situation’
- Accuses the US government of tactics that ‘threaten, menace, coerce, entice and incite both current and former Huawei employees to turn against the company’
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies on Tuesday denied a new allegation of patent theft from a Portuguese inventor while accusing the US government of trying to “coerce” its employees to turn against it.
Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Justice had investigated Huawei in connection with a theft of smartphone-camera patents alleged by a Portuguese inventor, Rui Pedro Oliveira.
In a statement, Huawei said “these allegations are false”, adding it was “clear that Mr. Oliveira is taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation”.
Huawei also said that over the past several months, the US government had engaged in tactics to “threaten, menace, coerce, entice, and incite both current and former Huawei employees to turn against the company and work for them”.
Law enforcement officials also had tried “entrapment, or pretending to be Huawei employees, to establish legal pretence for unfounded accusations against the company”, the statement said.