Licensor Moves to Delay Licensee's Asset Sale

The Wall Street Journal reports Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. has sued to delay the sale of some Motorola assets to Nokia Siemens Networks, claiming the sale would improperly transfer its intellectual property to a chief competitor.

Motorola contracted to sell the bulk of its network-equipment business to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion in mid-2010. Monday, Huawei asked a federal judge in Chicago to hold up the sale until its intellectual property is addressed.

Motorola has been selling rebranded Huawei switching equipment and advanced UMTS networks into China, Russia and the Ukraine since 2000 (reported over $800M worth).

Is this contingency something adequate due diligence would uncover? Does the fact that Huawei was a losing bidder in the asset sale play into this?