Huawei denies US allegations of tech theft

PARIS, Sept 03 (AFP): Beleaguered Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Tuesday denied accusations reported in the Wall Street Journal that it stole technology from a Portuguese inventor, accusing him of "taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation."

The US Department of Justice is looking into the claim, potentially adding to existing criminal cases against Huawei, the WSJ reported last week.

Huawei -- considered the world leader in superfast 5G equipment and the world's number two smartphone producer -- was in May swept into a deepening trade war between Beijing and Washington, which has seen punitive tariffs slapped on hundreds of billions of dollars of two-way trade.

The latest controversy involves Portuguese inventor Rui Pedro Oliveira who claims Huawei met him and then essentially ripped off one of his designs in order to produce the Huawei EnVizion 360 panoramic camera.

"These allegations are false," Huawei said in a statement in which it "categorically rejects Mr. Oliveira's claims of patent infringement".

"For the past several months, the US government has been leveraging its political and diplomatic influence to lobby other governments to ban Huawei equipment. Furthermore, it has been using every tool at its disposal - including both judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means - to disrupt the normal business operations of Huawei and its partners," the Chinese company said.