Cisco has dropped its intellectual property suit against
Huawei. The move comes eight months after the rival network equipment
makers agreed to try
and resolve the dispute without a trial.
Huawei pledged to abide by the terms of the preliminary injunction and
changed certain elements of its router and switch products, including command
line interface, user manuals, help screens and portions of its source code.
An independent expert has verified Huawei’s compliance, and the company will
only sell new, modified products going forward, according to Cisco. The
stipulations also apply to Huawei’s subsidiaries, Huawei America and
FutureWei Technologies.
“We are pleased to conclude the litigation as a result of the steps that
were taken to address our concerns,” Mark Chandler, Cisco’s general
counsel, said in a statement.
3Com , which intervened in the lawsuit because it
operates a joint venture with Huawei, also signed off on the pact.
A 3Com spokesman said the company “looks forward to continue competing on
the merits of the products from its joint venture with Huawei.”
Cisco initially sued in January, claiming Huawei and its subsidiaries had
used proprietary source code and cribbed user and help manuals.
A U.S. District Court judge in Texas granted Cisco a temporary injunction
barring Huawei from using the disputed intellectual property in any of its
products anywhere in the world. Huawei had already voluntarily withdrawn the
offending Quidway products from the U.S. market.
Huawei is privately held and sells most of its equipment in Asia.