Oliver Haslam on March 8, 2019, 6:56 pm

Huawei Suing U.S. Government Over “Unconstitutional” Ban On Its Products

Huawei has been threatening to sue the U.S. government over legislation that prevents agencies from buying its products, and now the Chinese firm has come good on those threats.

The complain, filed with a U.S. district court in Texas, sees Huawei claim that the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, or parts of it, are unconstitutional. The act currently limits government agency spending, with section 889 entitled “Prohibition on certain telecommunications and video surveillance services,” preventing agencies from purchasing equipment from both Huawei and ZTE.

According to a report by CNBC, Huawei claims that the provision is a “bill of attainder.” That means that Huawei believes that the act has decided that a person or persons are guilty of an act and then punishes them without the need for due process. That, according to Huawei, makes the whole thing unconstitutional.

In a statement to Reuters, Huawei Rotating Chairman Gu Ping said that “the U.S. Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products.”

“This ban not only is unlawful, but also restricts Huawei from engaging in fair competition, ultimately harming U.S. consumers,” he said. “We look forward to the court’s verdict.”

The whole situation comes after prosecutors alleged that Huawei conducted business in Iran, where it shouldn’t be doing so due to sanctions, through another company – Skycom. There are other claims relating to Huawei’s theft of trade secrets, specifically surrounding T-Mobile’s testing robot, known as Tappy. Huawei obviously believes it has done nothing wrong, or at least that is the line it is sticking within public.

This is clearly something that is going to rumble on for some time, and we don’t expect either side to back down any time soon.

(Sources: CNBC, Reuters)