Nokia Siemens Accuses Huawei 诺基亚西门子指责华为抄袭其宣传材料
I commended telecoms equipment leader Huawei for breaking with its history of maintaining a defensive posture on the global stage by finally making an offensive move after it filed an anti-monopoly complaint in Europe against a Western firm that was refusing to sell it 3G technology; but the latest accusations being leveled at the company by rival Nokia Siemens Networks look much more mundane and typical of what many foreigners traditionally expect from Chinese firms. This latest tussle is decidedly lower tech than the action Huawei took last week against a company called InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC) (previous post), with Nokia Siemens accusing the Chinese firm of the petty crime of copying the wording in some of its promotional materials. (Chinese article) Officials from Nokia Siemens pointed to a number of places in their materials where the wording Huawei’s materials contained similar wording. There was no comment from Huawei in the Chinese article on the allegations, so obviously the report is a bit one-sided. But if it’s true, it certainly wouldn’t surprise me, as copying by Chinese companies is by no means limited to technology and DVDs. If it really is true, I would indeed find it a bit ironic since Huawei is clearly quite a wealthy company and creating promotional materials isn’t nearly as expensive as developing new products, which would mean Huawei was simply being too lazy to go out and properly create its own marketing materials. But this kind of copying, regardless of whether it’s true in this instance, is probably more reflective of the endemic lack of respect for intellectual property and copyrights in general among Chinese firms. Huawei itself was the subject of much more serious copying allegations nearly a decade ago, when US rival Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) sued it for intellectual property theft, in a case that was ultimately settled for undisclosed terms. I’m unaware of any additional copycat claims against Huawei since then, which indicates the company probably made a serious effort to clean up its act as part of its drive to become a major global player. That makes this latest accusation by Nokia Siemens all the more ludicrous, as clearly this kind of copying, if it’s true, is something that could have been completely avoided at little or no extra cost to Huawei. But then again, the old English proverb probably applies here as well, namely that it’s difficult to get a leopard to change its spots.
Bottom line: Nokia Siemens’ accusations that Huawei copied some of its promotional materials, if true, reflect the difficulties Chinese companies face in trying to wean themselves from copying.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Huawei Goes on the Offensive 华为发起攻势
◙ Huawei Follows ZTE to Lower Profits 继中兴之后华为利润也降低
◙ ICBC, Huawei: It’s Cold Out There 工商银行、华为：国外市场冷清
