Mobile technology giants Huawei and Motorola have issued a joint statement indicating they have reached an agreement that puts an end to all currently legal disputes between the companies. Most significantly, the agreement will see Motorola paying Huawei an undisclosed amount to transfer its commercial mobile technology licensing agreements to Nokia Siemens. Motorola will also be dropping its suit against Huawei claiming the company had obtained confidential Motorola information via a reseller.
“After reviewing the facts, we decided to resolve these matters and return to our traditional relationship of confidence and trust. I am pleased that we can again focus on having a cooperative and productive relationship,” said Motorola Solutions CEO and president Greg Brown, in a statement.
“Huawei acted properly and above board at all times and developed its products independently and without the use of any Motorola trade secrets,” said Huawei executive VP and board chairman Guo Ping. “With the resolution of these cases, and the misunderstandings put to rest, Huawei is pleased to move forward with its efforts to provide innovative solutions to its customers.”
The agreement puts to rest a high-stakes dispute involving some of the world’s largest makers of mobile networking equipment—the gear that actually comprises the mobile networks we all know and love. Almost a year ago, Motorola entered into a $1.2 billion deal to sell its mobile networking business to Nokia Siemens. Huawei sued to block the deal almost immediately, claiming the sale would necessitate the transfer of proprietary Huawei technology to Nokia Siemens, which Huawei didn’t want to happen. (Huawei developed technologies widely used in Motorola’s GSM and CDMA networking gear—Motorola says that in the last ten years it purchased more than $880 million in Hauwei technology for its core networks and radio access networks.) Earlier this year, Huawei won an injunction barring the sale until the matter could be resolved.
For its part, Nokia Siemens said it never wanted Huawei proprietary tech as part of the Motorola networking acquisition…but it looks like it’s going to receive it anyway. Under the terms of the Motorola/Huawei agreement, Motorola will be paying Huawei for the right to transfer its commercial agreements to Nokia Siemens, and Nokia Siemens will receive and have the right to use the transferred Huawei technologies worldwide.
Motorola is also dropping a separate suit, Motorola v. Lemko, in which it accused Huawei of receiving confidential Motorola information via a third party reseller that, Motorola alleged, was essentially just a shell company set up by Huawei itself.
