In Lotes Co. Ltd. v. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. et al., Southern District of New York Judge Shira A. Scheindlin refused to dismiss a claim that Foxconn International Inc. anticompetitively refused to license standard-essential USB patents to a competitor on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms.
Foxconn argued that the patented technology was not essential to industry standards, and it therefore had no obligation to license on FRAND terms. It claimed that that the plaintiff had sued only to gain leverage in a Chinese patent infringement lawsuit. But the court found that defense insufficient to justify dismissal.