VANCOUVER—Research partnerships between Canadian universities and private tech companies such as Huawei could contribute to the “weaponization” of patents, caution cybersecurity experts.

When such partnerships bear fruit, the resulting patents sometimes flow to the company, explained Christopher Parsons, managing director of the Telecom Transparency Project at Citizen Lab, part of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.

In the case of Huawei, it’s the equivalent of turning the results of Canada’s “intellectual labour” over to a “foreign actor,” he added, noting ownership of a patent empowers a company to significantly underbid its competitors by charging them for access to vital intellectual property.

“Given the national security concerns about the nature of (Huawei’s) devices and the capabilities that are associated with them, that could mean that, for economic reasons, companies adopt products that there may be national security issues associated with,” Parsons said. “That's where patents act both as a way of economic mobilization or weaponization within the competitive market place. That can have effects for the security of the networking infrastructure.”

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Recent months have seen Huawei — which is working with schools across the country to develop its 5G infrastructure and other products — face ongoing scrutiny from Canada’s international intelligence partners for its connection to the Chinese government. Relations between Ottawa and Beijing, meanwhile, grow increasingly tense.

But Canadian universities said Friday they stand by their research agreements and donor ties with the company as at least one other school takes a different approach.

The U.K.’s University of Oxford confirmed reports last week that it’s closing the door on future ties with the company “in the light of public concerns raised in recent months,” according a statement from the school.

A pair of existing research partnerships between Oxford and Huawei, both of which “were approved under the university’s regulatory processes before the current levels of uncertainty arose,” will remain in place, the statement said. “We hope these matters can be resolved shortly and note Huawei’s own willingness to reassure governments about its role and activities.”

The University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria are amongst more than a dozen Canadian universities with ties — in some cases valued at millions of dollars — to Huawei.

In separate statements to StarMetro on Friday, each said they were not aware of any restrictions or advisories from the federal government that would prevent their work with the company and would therefore be making no changes to the partnerships. They also noted their partnerships are subject to peer scrutiny and meet policy standards regarding ethics, public interest and academic integrity.

“Universities do not assess issues of national security,” said a statement from David Castle, vice-president of research at the University of Victoria.

The Oxford statement did not provide further detail on the specific concerns to which the university was responding. But independent security experts and some Five Eyes intelligence partners have issued repeated warnings that the close control exhibited by Beijing over many Chinese corporations means the adoption of Huawei technologies and 5G infrastructure could provide a backdoor for surveillance efforts by China’s state actors.

In a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye warned of “repercussions” should Canada follow the U.S. and its Five Eyes security partners in banning Huawei from the development of domestic 5G networks.

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The increasingly heated exchange between the two countries has been fuelled in recent months by accusations that China has illegally detained Canadians in the country and the Dec. 1 arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.

Patents aside, Canadian universities should be wary of their partnerships for more ominous reasons as well said Alex Joske, a researcher working with the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“There are serious reputational risks from being perceived as having a close relationship with Huawei,” Joske said. “Canadian universities — and Canada more broadly — need to think about whether (they feel) comfortable with the possibility of sensitive information going to China, and potential breaches of privacy.”

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