Shenzhen-based telecoms maker Huawei Technologies on Thursday (July 22) rejected allegations by Motorola that it had stolen technological secrets from the U.S. mobile phone giant over the past decade.

Motorola is suing Huawei in the United States, alleging the Chinese company worked with more than a dozen Motorola employees to secure detailed confidential information about its cellular network equipment, the Wall Street Journal said.

Huawei, which is currently trying to secure its first major deal in the United States, said the accusations were "groundless and utterly without merit."

"Huawei will vigorously defend itself against baseless allegations,"  it said in a statement.

"As an active and significant player in global standards-setting bodies, Huawei has great respect for the rights of intellectual property holders, and will with equal vigor protect its own hard-earned intellectual property rights."

Motorola claims one of its employees, Pan Shaowei, secretly reported to Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei for years while working at the U.S. company, the Journal reported. Pan then left to help set up a company called Lemko Corp. with the alleged purpose of stealing more secrets from Motorola, the report said.

Motorola claims Huawei and Lemko are selling equipment based on the stolen technology.

It is the first time Motorola has named Huawei in the two-year-old legal proceedings, which also include the former employee and Lemko, the newspaper said.

Huawei denied it had any relationship with Lemko, other than a "reseller agreement."