Huawei, Cisco settle IPR dispute
(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-30 00:41

Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc has agreed to settle a lawsuit with Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co.

Under the deal announced on Wednesday, which finalizes a tentative agreement reached in October, Huawei will revise its command-line interface, user manuals, help screens and some source code to address Cisco's concerns on routers and switches. Financial terms were not disclosed, though each party must pay its own legal fees.

"The completion of this lawsuit marks a victory for the protection of intellectual property rights," said Mark Chandler, Cisco's general counsel. "We are pleased to conclude the litigation as a result of the steps that were taken to address our concerns."

Stanley Young, an attorney representing Huawei, said his client welcomed the final resolution to the case.

"Huawei certainly looks forward to competing in the marketplace on its merits," he said.

"We are very satisfied with the result, which shows that Huawei Techonogies is worthy of trust by our customers," Huawei Technologies spokesman Fu Jun said in Shenzhen Thursday in an telephone interview with China Daily.

"Hua Wei has always respected and protected intellectual property rights, investing heavily on product research and development," Fu added. "Before the lawsuit, Huawei had already taken initiatives to amend our controversial products to avoid further disputes and enhance our competitiveness in a bid to further explore the overseas market."

Fu also said the case didn't affect Huawei's business in the international market, which has seen a rapid increases in recent years.

The Shenzhen-based Huawei is trying to jump into the corporate router and switch market that Cisco dominates.

Last year, Huawei and 3Com Corp announced a joint venture to develop and manufacture enterprise-class networking equipment.

The lawsuit, originally filed in January 2003 at the US District Court in Marshall, Texas, claimed Huawei and two US-based subsidiaries not only copied protected parts of Cisco technology but also infringed on at least five patents.

In September, the companies announced a six-month stay in the lawsuit pending a third-party review of Huawei's products. That was extended in April.

At the time, Huawei had already discontinued the sale of products in contention and agreed to sell only new and modified equipment. It also agreed to submit units for review by a neutral expert.

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