With LG Energy Solutions and SK Innovation still having a different position over the judgment on the infringement of the electric vehicle battery trade secret lawsuit, the results of the patent infringement lawsuit, which is a’second match’, are expected to come out soon.
This lawsuit was derived from the last trade secret infringement lawsuit filed by LG against SK. Therefore, the possibility that LG Energy Solutions, which won the lawsuit for infringement of trade secrets, will be favorably judged weighs in. If SK Innovation overturns expectations and seizes victory, the direction of the litigation will fall into the fog again.
According to industry sources on the 14th, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will file a’Initial Determination’ of a battery patent infringement lawsuit filed by LG Energy Solutions against SK Innovation on the 19th of this month (hereafter local time).
In April 2019, when LG Chem (LG Energy Solutions) filed a lawsuit for infringement of trade secrets, SK Innovation sued the ITC and the federal court in September for infringing on its battery technology ‘994’ patent. Accordingly, LG responded face-to-face by filing a patent lawsuit and a lawsuit for damages claiming that SK infringed on its core patents.
In terms of time, the preliminary decision of the patent infringement lawsuit filed by SK to LG should come first, but the delay of the investigation process in this case led to the preliminary decision of the case filed by LG. The final decision date was also decided on July 19th. On the other hand, the preliminary decision of the lawsuit filed by SK against LG comes out on July 30th, and the final decision on November 30th.
Both companies have been fighting for patent infringement. In January, the U.S. Intellectual Property Office clashed over whether or not the position of the LG battery patent contained a’possibility of invalidity’. When the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Tribunal (PTBA) refused to initiate the investigation of the eight patent invalidation trials (IPRs) related to SRS and cathode material patents filed by SK against LG, the two companies came up with different interpretations.
As the ITC made the final decision based on the preliminary decision, the industry’s opinion is that the results of the patent infringement lawsuit this week will in fact be outlined. Until now, about 90% of the preliminary decisions in ITC patent infringement litigation have been retained in the final decision. The same was the case in the previous lawsuit for infringement of trade secrets.
Also noteworthy is that the result of this patent infringement lawsuit is highly likely to be affected by the final judgment of the trade secret infringement lawsuit. ITC finally decided on the 10th of last month that it would ban production and import of some lithium-ion battery cells, modules, and packs from SK Innovation for 10 years in the US.
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The industry believes that if the two companies agree on a trade secret infringement lawsuit, the patent infringement lawsuit will also be naturally withdrawn. However, the problem is that the two companies are showing strong disagreement over the agreed amount. According to the industry, it is said that SK Innovation is hoping for a settlement of KRW 500-800 billion and LG Energy Solution KRW 3 trillion.
Georgia, where SK Innovation and local factories are located, is hoping for President Biden to exercise his veto. The company has pledged to invest an additional $2.4 billion (about 2.7 trillion won) by 2025. In addition, the two companies’ nerve wars are getting more intense as LG Energy Solutions puts a card to invest 5 trillion won on its own in the US battery market, investing 5 trillion won on its own.