Huawei Technologies loses trade secrets case against U.S. chip designer

(Reuters) – A U.S. jury on Wednesday cleared California semiconductor designer CNEX Labs Inc of stealing trade secrets from Chinese electronics giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd while awarding CNEX no damages on its own trade theft claims.

Huawei had sued CNEX in U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas, for misappropriation of trade secrets involving a memory control technology and for poaching its employees. The jury rejected those claims, while finding a CNEX founder failed to notify the company of his patent filings.

CNEX filed a counter suit, alleging Huawei sought to steal its technology by posing as a customer and calling the original claims part of a pattern by Huawei to obtain others’ secrets. The jury found Huawei had misappropriated CNEX’s secrets but awarded no damages.

“This is a victory for the rule of law and for global standards of ethical corporate behavior,” said CNEX General Counsel Matthew Gloss. “This case was never about money.”

The United States…