LG “SK Innovation needs to present a sincere agreement”

Charging the electric vehicle battery. [로이터=연합뉴스]

LG Energy Solutions, which won the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling against SK Innovation in the case of the infringement of electric vehicle battery trade secrets, did not give any additional official opinion on the ruling announced on the 5th. Disclosing the original 96-page text, “It is the ITC’s judgment that it would be clear that it would not have been possible to independently develop the information on the trade secret within 10 years if SK had not stolen 22 trade secrets from LG.” “I have issued an order to ban imports,” he explained.

Although LG is spared, it has a meaning in the sentence that the ITC says, “The destruction of evidence was ordered by the high-ranking leaders and carried out company-wide by the heads of the organization.” This is because it became the basis for judging that “SK’s act of destroying evidence is at a serious level”. ITC explained, “We have confirmed that data collection and destruction were rampant and tolerated by SK,” and “We judge that SK has attempted to delete or conceal documents with blatant malicious intent as an excuse that it is a regular practice.”

In response to the ruling, SK said, “Even though it has decided that it is a violation of trade secrets, it is still not able to judge what trade secrets were infringed and how it was infringed.” “LG was unable to provide evidence of the infringement, and no evidence of the infringement of trade secrets, which is the essence of this issue, was not revealed in any of the ITC opinions.”

In response to this, an LG official responded, “We cannot convince the situation that the side that lost the evidence and lost due to the destruction of the evidence has no evidence.” At the same time, LG emphasized the sentence of the ruling, “It has proven concretely and probably that SK is taking advantage of illegally obtained trade secrets.” An LG official said, “It is the correct attitude for SK to present an agreement with a sincere attitude, rather than making unreasonable logic.”

LG’s request period of 10 years for the period of banning the import of batteries for battery production into the United States as determined by ITC was accepted. It admitted to LG’s claim that “SK has infringed on trade secrets and started 10 years in an advantageous position.” ITC said, “SK would not have been able to develop the information within 10 years without the infringed LG’s trade secrets,” and said, “It did not have enough manpower or ability to develop the infringing technology within 10 years.”

Reporter Sunwook Choi [email protected]