Huawei — the world’s biggest maker of telecoms network gear — has filed for a Hongmeng trademark in countries such as Cambodia, Canada, South Korea and New Zealand, data from the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows. It also filed an application in Peru on May 27, according to the country’s anti-trust agency Indecopi.
Huawei has a back-up OS in case it is cut off from US-made software, Richard Yu, CEO of the firm’s consumer division, told German newspaper Die Welt in an interview earlier this year. However, the world’s second-largest maker of smartphones has not yet revealed details about its OS. In China, Huawei applied for a Hongmeng trademark in August last year and received a nod last month, according to a filing on China’s intellectual property administration’s website.
“It is a fair question to ask if one decides to go with Huawei and Huawei continues to be on our entity list, will Huawei be able to actually deliver what it promises any particular client,” Jonathan Fritz, the US State Department’s Director for International Communications Policy, told reporters in Brussels.
Huawei has found itself in the crosshairs as Donald Trump’s administration introduced a ban on the use of the Chinese company’s technology, barring US companies from trading with the company without government approval.
The US has accused Huawei of exploiting cyber infrastructure on behalf of China’s ruling Communist Party, while threatening to curb intelligence co-operation with any country that allows Huawei equipment to be used in its own networks. The Chinese tech giant has adamantly denied all accusations.