Chinese walkie-talkie maker Hytera to appeal against US global sales ban, sanctions seen as ‘harsher’ than action against Huawei

Shenzhen-based firm aims to have injunction lifted ‘as soon as possible’, it says in exchange filing

Hytera was on April 2 ordered by the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to halt the sales and distribution of any products containing two-way radio technology anywhere in the world

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A file photo of a Hytera production line in Shenzhen from December 2018. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00pm, 8 Apr 2024

Chinese walkie-talkie maker Hytera is appealing against United States sanctions that bar it from selling two-way radio products globally as part of a years-long trade secrets dispute with Lenovo-backed US smartphone maker Motorola.

The Shenzhen-based firm has complied with the sanctions and suspended the sales of these products, it said in a filing with the Shenzhen exchange on Monday.

“The company will take measures to lift the injunction orders as soon as possible,” Hytera said in the filing, adding that there might be “some uncertainties” in the development of the case.

The firm was on April 2 ordered by the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to halt the sales and distribution of any products containing two-way radio technology anywhere in the world, according to a statement on Hytera’s website.

The fact that a Chinese company has been banned from sales globally by a US court has triggered another heated debate on Chinese social media, with some calling the sanctions against Hytera “harsher” than the US action against Huawei Technologies.

The sanctions follow a years-long trade secrets and copyright infringement dispute between Hytera and Motorola, which was acquired by Chinese consumer electronics giant Lenovo in 2014.