China's Huawei Communications Equipment Co. has been accused of using a Chinese university professor working on a research project to illegally access the technology of an emerging American company called CNEX, according to court documents filed last week.
CNEX, based in California, is supported by many investors, including Microsoft, Dell, a technology to improve the performance of hard drives in data centers and has entered into a legal dispute with Huawei since 2017.
In a new lawsuit filed against Huawei in a federal court in Texas last week, the company alleged that Bo Mao, a professor at Xiamen University, had requested one of the company's circuit boards as part of a research project.
CNEX said it had asked Mao to sign a clear commitment not to disclose the circuit board, but said: She did not know that there is a relationship between the University of Xiamen and Huawei, and explained that the technical details of its products reached the Chinese company, after sending the circuit board to the university professor.
"Huawei has acquired intellectual property information, trade secrets of our own, and has shared with its employees who developed SSD control tools in violation of the data provided to us and restrictions on the distribution of our technical information," the company said in its filing file.
Huawei equipment has been largely banned in the United States since 2012 because of security concerns about the possibility of using technology for espionage, but the company said: "The concerns are unfounded.
Meng Wanzhou, the financial director of the Chinese company and the daughter of its founder, Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in December at Vancouver Airport at the request of the United States for conspiracy to fraud on international banks over Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran.
CNEX's allegations last week were the latest in a trial dating back to 2017. One of the founders of CNEX, Ronnie Huang, worked for a subsidiary of Huawei in Texas but left in 2013 and later helped establish CNEX.
In 2017, Huawei filed a lawsuit against CNEX and Ronnie Huang, alleging that the inventions of the startup company were linked to Huang's work in Huawei and that she had the right to patent under her contract with Huang.
While CNEX alleged that Huawei was seeking to use the court case for deeper access to its technology, CNEX continues to face claims from Huawei that Huang harmed it, by picking the talented of his former colleagues, and asking them to join his new company illegally.
Last week, the court dismissed Huawei's claims for CNEX patents. California's law, which gives workers ample time to leave work and set up new companies, applies to this part of Huang's contract.
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