NEW YORK, September 15, 2016: Morgan Lewis achieved a decisive victory in New York State Court this week on behalf of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. when Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich granted summary judgment in favor of Hon Hai and dismissed all of the claims of competitor Lotes Co., Ltd.
Lotes, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of USB connectors, had alleged in the lawsuit that Hon Hai, the Taiwanese parent company of USB manufacturer Foxconn Electronics, Inc., should be held liable for not providing a license to Lotes for certain patent claims for USB 3.0 connectors.
After two years of litigation, Justice Kornreich concluded that Hon Hai had no obligation to provide Lotes a license for technology that is optional – but not necessary – to the USB 3.0 standard. The court also rejected all other theories Lotes advanced, and dismissed the claims in their entirety.
The Morgan Lewis team defending Hon Hai was led by partner Brian Herman and associate David Snider. Additional team members included partners John Zele, Willard Tom, Steve Brody, and Lucas Chang, and associate Nathan Shapiro.
This is the second victory our team secured on behalf of Hon Hai in two years; in 2013, Morgan Lewis obtained the dismissal of a lawsuit that Lotes brought against Hon Hai in the Southern District of New York alleging antitrust claims. That decision was appealed to the Second Circuit, which affirmed in 2014.