Huawei slammed the US government for launching an investigation into new patent infringement claims against the company, arguing the probe is part of a concerted effort to discredit it.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported the Department of Justice (DoJ) opened an investigation into allegations Huawei stole a patented design for an attachable smartphone camera from Portuguese inventor Rui Oliveira.

However, Huawei issued a statement flatly denying Oliveira’s assertions, and accused him of sharing false information with the media in an attempt to smear its reputation.

It acknowledged Oliveira pitched his idea to Huawei executives in May 2014, but said it ultimately decided to create its own camera attachment. Where Oliveira’s design comprised a camera with a single, expandable lens, Huawei said its design was non-expandable and featured lenses on both sides of the device to enable panoramic shots.

The DoJ filed criminal charges against Huawei in January, accusing the company in part of stealing smartphone testing technology from T-Mobile US. But the Chinese vendor insisted none of its core technology had been the subject of any criminal probe: “No company becomes a global leader in their field through theft.”

Concerted effort
Huawei blasted the DoJ’s decision to take up the case, arguing the move is part of a politically-driven plot to disrupt its business operations using both administrative and “unscrupulous” means, including intimidation, visa denials and detained shipments.

The vendor claimed the US government sent federal agents to the homes of its employees to collect information on the company, and directed officials to “threaten, menace, coerce, entice and incite” current and former employees to turn against it.

Further, it alleged the US government launched cyberattacks against it in an attempt to access internal information systems.