China's largest telecommunication equipment supplier, Huawei Technologies got a shot in its arm on Thursday when it won a preliminary injunction prohibiting its hometown rival ZTE from using a Huawei trademark on USB broadband modems sold in Germany. The injunction is part of a larger legal battle over trademark and paten.

Huawei said on Thursday it had been granted the injunction in a German court. Two weeks ago, the company filed lawsuits in Germany, France and Hungary, alleging that ZTE had infringed on a series of Huawei patents involving mobile broadband modems and higher-speed fourth generation technology known as LTE (Long Term Evolution). The lawsuits also accuse ZTE of illegally using Huawei's trademarks on some of its modem products.

A copy of the German court document said that ZTE is temporarily prohibited from using a Huawei trademark on its USB broadband modems in the country.

"The court's decision will protect our intellectual property” and we look forward to ZTE ensuring that Huawei's innovations and technologies are used in a lawful manner," Huawei spokesman Ross Gan said via e-mail.

Shortly after Huawei filed its lawsuits in Europe, ZTE fired back with its own patent infringement cases against its rival, filing them in China. ZTE has also applied with the E.U. to revoke Huawei's RoHS trademark.

Both Huawei and ZTE are based in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, but their market reach has grown to expand outside of China. A majority of their revenues come from foreign countries -- about 54 percent for ZTE, and two-thirds for Huawei. Both mobile broadband modems and higher-speed LTE networks represent major product markets the companies compete in.