"If Huawei cannot enter into a contract with Google, then they cannot enter into the Apache 2.0 licensing agreement with Google, which means that they would not have a license to distribute the AOSP codebase. If they do not have a license to distribute it, then any attempted distribution of that code by Huawei would be a violation of Google’s copyright. As
Reuters highlighted in their article, Google does not intend to end their open source licensing agreements with Huawei, however, they can only maintain that position as long as the U.S. government allows them to. Huawei being on the
Entity List prohibits companies with U.S. operations from exporting parts and components to Huawei, including software components. While Google has acted to comply for any software where Google provides active access to the software (e.g. early access to Android security updates, support from Google throughout the
Android Q beta program, being able to install Google Play Services on new devices, etc.), the restrictions equally apply for software that Huawei can use without any Huawei-specific action by Google (such as the AOSP repository). While the U.S. government will not force Google to take down the AOSP repository, they can fine Google for failing to comply with the Export Administration Regulations if Google does not take appropriate steps to prevent unauthorized usage of Google’s intellectual property by a company on the Entity List (including properly pursuing large scale copyright violations)."
Analysis: How even Huawei’s use of AOSP may be in jeopardy with the US-China trade war