The U.S. Patent Tribunal dismissed all of SK’s patent invalidation trials against LG

Input 2021.01.14 16:49

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Tribunal (PTAB) dismissed all claims for invalidation of battery (secondary battery) patents filed by SK Innovation against LG Energy Solutions.

According to industry and foreign media on the 14th, the US Patent Tribunal said that SK Innovation LG Chem (051910)It refused to initiate an investigation into two cases of IPR invalidation of battery separator patents filed against LG Energy Solutions, its subsidiary. SK Innovation filed a total of eight trials for invalidation of patents to the Patent Tribunal, but in November last year, six cases were dismissed from the start of the investigation, and the other two were dismissed this time.

Both companies are suing the US International Trade Commission (ITC) for infringement of trade secrets. The final result will come out on the 10th of next month. Since the ITC litigation and the Patent Tribunal trial are conducted separately, the decision to dismiss the initiation of this investigation does not directly affect the ITC litigation.

However, the decision of the Patent Tribunal cannot be appealed. SK innovation (096770)Has no choice but to accept this decision. As SK Innovation’s judgment in order to gain an advantage in patent litigation was dismissed, it caused some disruption to its strategy.

On the other hand, it was decided to start an investigation at the end of September last year for the trial of invalidation of patents related to battery modules that LG Energy Solutions filed against SK Innovation in the Patent Tribunal. In the second half of this year, results are expected to determine whether SK Innovation’s patents are valid.