[서울신문] LG·SK’s’battery fight’, which has been scolded again Biden veto watershed

LG successfully won the lawsuit for infringement of trade secrets
SK holds the victory in patent litigation and prolongs it
Biden pays attention to whether he will veto 11 days ago

The’LG-SK EV Battery Litigation Battle’, which was likely to end with LG’s overwhelming victory, is expected to be prolonged as it suddenly flows into a premarital pattern. LG won a complete victory in the’trade secret infringement’ lawsuit, but in the’patent rights infringement’ lawsuit, SK is winning the momentum and the current is changing rapidly. Although the two lawsuits are not directly related, attention is drawn to the outcome as they can affect the initiative of the two companies to negotiate a trade secret infringement settlement.

According to business circles on the 4th, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) rejected the request of LG Energy Solutions (at the time, LG Chem) on the 2nd to “cancel the patent infringement lawsuit filed by SK Innovation”. The ITC did not accept LG’s request to sanction SK because LG already possesses the prior technology for the patent that SK has questioned, and SK has destroyed the evidence.

The two companies filed a lawsuit against ITC in September 2019, stating that “the other party infringed our patent”. The lawsuit filed by LG, “SK has infringed LG patents,” gained SK’s advantage as ITC made a preliminary decision on the 1st that “SK has not infringed”. The lawsuit filed by SK saying “LG infringed on SK patents” was further encouraged by the ITC dismissing LG’s request to “cancel this lawsuit”. This is also because SK’s hand has been raised. ITC’s preliminary decision to determine whether LG has infringed SK’s patent will be made on July 30th. If LG’s patent infringement is recognized, a ban on imports of LG battery products into the United States could be imposed.

Regarding ITC’s rejection of LG’s request, SK claimed, “LG accused an SK employee of referring to LG technology, and said that the employee had intentionally deleted the document, but ITC did not accept it.” On the other hand, LG said, “This is a common occurrence in the process of resolving litigation issues and does not affect the nature of the litigation. “We will actively argue that SK’s patents correspond to’corrupt hands’ based on stolen trade secrets and technologies.”

Whether US President Joe Biden will exercise the’right to refuse’ for the trade secret infringement case that ITC concluded with LG’s complete victory before the 11th (local time) is a watershed of dispute. If the veto is exercised, the ITC’s decision to ban the US import of SK batteries for 10 years will be invalidated, and SK will be revived. If the deadline passes without the exercise of the veto, it is highly likely that LG will ask SK for more settlement funds.

Reporter Lee Young-joon [email protected]