The Ottawa-based technology patent company said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., filed a suit in New York on Oct. 23 requesting a declaration that Hon Hai does not infringe on Wi-LAN's V-chip patent and to declare that patent invalid.
Hon Hai owns Foxconn Technology Group, the manufacturer of Apple's iPhone among other divisions.
WiLAN filed a suit against it on Oct. 1 in a Florida court alleging that Hon Hai failed to report sales and revenues as required under a license agreement between the companies.
"WiLAN believes that Hon Hai's filing of this suit in New York is a tactical response related to WiLAN's filing of the initial suit in Florida," it said in a statement.
"This tactic was anticipated by WiLAN as one possible response by Hon Hai, and is not entirely unexpected."
The company, which has not yet been served the suit, said it doesn't consider the lawsuits to be "material changes" as Hon Hai is a relatively small TV and display licensee in terms of its historical payments.
WiLAN said its key V-Chip patent was re-examined several years ago at the request of a third party and the United States Patent and Trademark Office confirmed the validity of all its claims and added more than 30 new claims.
Earlier this month WiLAN launched a lawsuit over its V-Chip patent against LG Electronics, Inc.
The Ottawa-based company specializes in licensing the rights to patents in its portfolio, through royalty payments from companies that use the protected technology in their products and services.
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