Cisco files lawsuit against Huawei Technologies

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, Feb 7, 2003

Cisco announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Huawei Technologies, Co., LTD and its subsidiaries, Huawei America Inc. and FutureWei Technologies Inc. over Huawei's unlawful copying of Cisco's intellectual property. Cisco's suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that Huawei unlawfully copied and misappropriated Cisco's IOS software, including source code, copied Cisco documentation and other copyrighted materials, and infringed numerous Cisco patents. Cisco seeks remedies to prohibit the continued misappropriation of its intellectual property by Huawei and recover damages resulting from Huawei's illegal actions. Cisco also served a cease and desist letter on Spot Distribution, a Huawei distributor located in the United Kingdom, for distributing Huawei products that copy Cisco's intellectual property.

Cisco's complaint addresses the following claims:

- Copying of IOS source code: Cisco alleges that Huawei has copied portions of the Cisco IOS source code and included the technology in its operating system for its Quidway routers and switches. Huawei's operating system contains a number of text strings, file names, and bugs that are identical to those found in Cisco's IOS source code.

- Copying of Cisco's technical documentation: Cisco alleges that Huawei has copied extensively from Cisco's copyrighted technical documentation and included whole portions of Cisco's text in Huawei's user manuals for Quidway routers and switches.

- Copying of Command Line Interface: Cisco alleges that Huawei has copied Cisco's Command Line Interface (CLI) and corresponding screen displays. CLI, a key component of Cisco's copyrighted IOS software, is the user interface that enables users to communicate with the routers. Extensive portions of Cisco's CLI and help screens appear verbatim in Huawei's operating system for its Quidway routers and switches.

- Patent infringement: Cisco alleges that Huawei is infringing at least five Cisco patents related to proprietary routing protocols and has included these technologies in its Quidway routers and switches.

Cisco is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting Huawei from using, selling, marketing, or distributing versions of their Quidway routers and switches that infringe Cisco's intellectual property. Cisco also is seeking monetary damages as compensation for Huawei's misappropriation of Cisco's intellectual property.

A copy of Cisco's complaint can be found at http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/filing.pdf.>

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