Executive Summary
LG Chem Ltd. (“LG Chem”) and SK Innovation Co., Ltd. (“SK Innovation”) are engaging in domestic and overseas legal battles over EV batteries. In the global market in this field, LG Chem ranks fourth and SK Innovation ranks ninth, and this case is drawing much attention in the EV battery industry.
In this legal battle that started last April, LG Chem filed a lawsuit against SK Innovation with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US District Court of Delaware (the place of business of SK Innovation Battery America), seeking a relif of an import ban and an injunction against trade secret infringement, and damages. Last June, SK Innovation also filed a suit against LG Chem with the Seoul Central District Court, seeking a relif of damages for defamation.
Further, SK Innovation filed lawsuits against LG Chem and LG Electronics Co., Ltd. with the US ITC, claiming that they are infringing upon their patented EV battery technology, and LG Chem also filed a countersuit against SK Innovation with the US ITC for patent infringement. Accordingly, the US ITC has been directly investigating domestic manufacturing facilities and the people involved at both companies.
In addition to such legal actions, SK Innovation recently claimed that LG Chem’s patent lawsuits filed with the US ITC violate their agreement not to take each other to the court in the past, and has additionally filed a lawsuit seeking a relief of withdrawal of LG Chem’s lawsuit and damages.
The two were already involved in a legal dispute over batteries between 2011 and 2014, which ended up with a settlment to end the lawsuit before a final decision was rendered by a domestic court. To end the dispute, the parties agreed in the settlement agreement not to file any additional lawsuit against the other party regarding the same matter.
LG Chem currently has five lawsuits pending against SK Innovation with the US ITC for patent infringement, which includes three patents directed to membranes, some of which are “family patents” of those disputed in 2014.
While SK Innovation claims that LG Chem violated their settlement agreement “not to file lawsuits over the subject patent at home or abroad,” LG Chem claims that, although patents in its US lawsuit are “family patents,” they are considered separate from the ones mentioned in the prior settlement agreement in accordance with the territorial principle.
As it seems both arguments have merit, both companies will need to wait for a final decision from the court. Further, the patent industry will also be paying attention to the result of the lawsuit, because it concerns not only patent infringement, but also the agreement not to file lawsuits regarding family patents.