7 March: Huawei has opened a third front in its counterattack against the US administration. The company has announced that it has filed a lawsuit in a US Federal court in Texas. The lawsuit cites the US government ban on the use of its products by federal agencies. It claims that this is an illegal use of Section 889 of the National Defence Authorisation Act.
Huawei’s case is that there has been no evidence that it is assisting the Chinese government in espionage attempts and if the US government alleges that Huawei really has been doing this then such evidence should be produced. Huawei also insists that a government ban will almost certainly affect confidence in its products in the wider market and will therefore have a considerable economic impact. They seek a declaration that the ban is unconstitutional. They may then seek compensation for the damage that has been done to the company.
Ironically Huawei claims that the US government’s actions “harms US consumers” by denying them access to Huawei products. Umm…