Huawei says it faces “irreparable damage” if IP is transferred to NSN
The Northen Illinois District Court has partially upheld Huawei’s application to prevent Motorola taking Huawei intellectual property with it when it is bought by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). The court issued a temporary restraining order preventing Motorola from transferring information about Huawei’s IP to NSN.
A court statement said, “Defendants Motorola, Inc., Motorola Solutions, Inc., and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (“Motorola”) are hereby ordered not to disclose any of Plaintiff’s confidential information to Defendants Nokia Siemens Networks US LLC and Nokia Siemens Networks B.V. (“NSN”). Defendants are ordered to provide the Court and Plaintiff with immediate written notice of any action taken by MOFCOM concerning the pending transaction between Motorola and NSN.”
Huawei applied yesterday to the District Court to prevent Motorola from “illegally” (in Huawei’s words) transferring Huawei’s intellectual property (IP) to NSN. NSN is lining up a US$1.2 billion acquisition of Motorola’s wireless network business.
Huawei claims that since 2000, it 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”.
Since the July 2010 announcement by NSN of its purchase of Motorola’s wireless network business, Huawei said that it has tried to ensure that Motorola does not transfer this information to NSN – but it has not been convinced by Motorola’s actions.
A Huawei statement said: “Motorola, however, has not responded with assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that information to NSN. If Huawei’s proprietary commercial property and information is transferred to a third party, Huawei will suffer irreparable commercial damage.”
Huawei claims that Motorola’s failure to adopt measures sufficient to ensure that Huawei’s proprietary information remains confidential has compelled the company to file for the appropriate legal protection of its rights.