The Shenzhen Secondary People's Court has rejected the appeal of three defendants found guilty of violating Huawei's intellectual property rights.

The case was originally brought before the court in 2004, when Huawei accused the former employees of passing business secrets to individuals outside of the Huawei organization and also for violating certain intellectual property.

During the initial phase of proceedings, the two principals Wang Zhijun and Liu Ning were each sentenced to three years in prison and fined CNY50000, while their subordinate Qin Xuejun earned a two year prison sentence and fined CNY20000.

The court's latest ruling denies the appeal set forth by the three and confirms their sentence.