Huawei, the emerging giant of the Chinese communications equipment business, has agreed to modify some of its products after claims of technology piracy from US rival Cisco Systems, the companies said yesterday.

The legal fight became the most prominent recent dispute over intellectual property rights involving the fast-growing Chinese technology industry.

For Cisco, protecting its technology has become increasingly important as Huawei has moved beyond the domestic market to sell switches and router equipment in North America and Europe.

The companies said Huawei had "voluntarily made changes to certain of its router and switch products".

The changes will be reviewed by an independent expert.

If the changes are accepted by the independent expert, the two companies involved said they expected the legal action to end.