CHICAGO, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A Chinese firm is suing U.S. electronics giant Motorola Solutions to prevent transfer of intellectual property to Nokia Siemens Networks, court papers show.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago by Huawei Technology Co., intends to stop the transfer of company information expected as part of Nokia's $1.2 billion purchase of Motorola's wireless network businesses, a deal that also includes Nokia taking over Motorola's Arlington Heights campus in Illinois.
The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reported Tuesday that Nokia was expected to move to the campus in early 2011 after closing on the purchase.
Huawei spokesman Bill Plummer said a transfer of proprietary information along with the sale of the business is like "giving away the keys to our store." Motorola and Huawei formed a partnership in 2000 that included selling Huawei products under the Motorola name.
Motorola Solutions spokesman Nick Sweers said the lawsuit was "without merit."
"As previously stated, we are targeting to complete the sale of our networks business to Nokia Siemens Networks by early 2011 following receipt of approval from China's antitrust authorities," he said.