Huawei decision clears Motorola-Nokia Siemens Networks deal

A court ruling in the US has cleared the last obstacle to the takeover of Motorola's telecoms division by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).

The $1.2bn (£750m) NSN takeover, which has been cleared by EU competition authorities, was being blocked in the US by legal action from Huawei.

The Chinese company was concerned that the merger would open up some of its proprietary technology to a competitor.

The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has ruled that the sale can go ahead, but that Hauwei's technology must be removed beforehand. This will be ensured after inspection by an impartial source.

NSN will also received regular audits to ensure that Huawei technology is not used in future products.

"Huawei is pleased that the court continues to recognise the merits of our claim that Motorola must abide by its contractual obligations to protect Huawei's trade secrets and intellectual property," said Hauwei in a statement.

"We hope Motorola will now turn its focus to ensuring that Huawei's intellectual property rights are well protected."

Motorola said that it is happy with the verdict and will work with Chinese regulatory authorities to finalise the deal, which should be in the first quarter of this year.

"We are extremely pleased that the judge denied that portion of Huawei's request that would have blocked our sale of the business to NSN," Nicholas Sweers, vice president of global communications at Motorola Solutions, told V3.co.uk.

"As we stated in court, Motorola Solutions respects and will continue to protect Huawei's confidential information as per the agreements that we have with Huawei."