Motorola and Huawei both claim victory in NSN sale case

Motorola Solutions can sell its networking business to Nokia Siemens Networks, but it cannot transfer confidential information deriving from Huawei to the buyer, a US judge has ruled.

Huawei and Motorola Solutions have both claimed victory in a legal battle over the sale of Motorola's networking business to Nokia Siemens Networks. Photo credit: CNET News

On Tuesday, both Motorola and Huawei issued statements claiming victory in the case, heard in district court in Chicago. In the suit, initially filed on 24 January, Huawei asked the court to stop the sale to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) on the grounds that it added up to an illegal transfer of confidential information.

Huawei said it was "pleased" that the court had supported its claim that "Motorola must abide by its contractual obligations to protect Huawei's trade secrets and intellectual property". The Chinese telecoms hardware maker added that the decision "gives us the confidence to increase our investment in the US".

Motorola said it was "extremely pleased" that Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman had turned down a different part of Huawei's request. This would have blocked the transfer of Motorola employees to NSN while "carving out a portion of the business from the sale to NSN", effectively blocking the $1.2bn (£744m) acquisition.

According to Huawei, the court has ensured that Motorola will be forced to hire a qualified third party to check that confidential information is securely removed from anything being passed on to NSN. The Chinese company said it will be allowed to audit NSN's use of Motorola-branded systems that include Huawei technology.

Motorola said it expected the sale to NSN to close in the first quarter of this year as planned.