The United States will be seeing more intensity in the legal battle between two South Korean battery makers, as on last Friday, SK Innovation Co Ltd unveiled that it is intending to file a lawsuit in the United States against bigger competitor LG Chem Ltd upon allegation of electric vehicle (EV) patent violations.
LG Chem quickly condemned the SK Innovation’s intention of filing a new lawsuit by calling the move as “groundless” and said that it will also go seeking compensation.
The two companies are in warlock since April this year when LG Chem came up suing SK in the United States, alleging that SK Innovation committed offense of stealing its trade secrets by hiring LG Chem’s former employees. SK Innovation rejected illegality of the issue and currently the court case is still in progress.
Escalating the latest round of legal battle, SK Innovation said that for patent infringement, it was preparing to take the matter in the U.S. International Trade Commission by filing lawsuits there against LG Chem and LG Chem Michigan Inc.
SK Innovation confirmed the action of going to the FTC, but did not provide any details or time lines of the case to be filed. The company also added that a larger number of battery products by LG Chem would be going to be affected from the filing and in case of SK Innovation become succeeded winning the case would result in prohibition of selling those products by LG Chem.
YS Soon, president of SK Innovation’s battery business, rejected the current move as a tit-for-tat initiative, saying that these lawsuits are nothing to do with lawsuit filed by LG Chem against the SK Innovation on allegation of embezzlement of trade secrets, but are lawsuits that are just and necessary to protect intellectual property of the company.
