In November 2019, LG filed three patent suits against TCL. Recently, a hearing was done in the Mannheim Regional Court regarding an essential patent, EP 2627146 B1, and the ruling was in favor of the South Korean tech giant company.
Although, the suit is far from over for TCL can still appeal and it is currently trying to revoke LG’s patent with nullity action which is pending at the German Federal Patent Court as of the moment. On LG’s side, they want as much as possible for TCL to stop using their technology without a license. Regarding the two suits, a hearing was done last March 2 and a ruling is still underway while there would be another hearing for the other patent in May.
The three patents are utilized in 4G technology. When it comes to patents, LG has a wide variety of standard essential patents on its pocket which already been used for five years straight (2012-2016). This is according to TechIPm, an intellectual property research firm. Also, LG ranks 3rd worldwide for its 5G standard-essential patents according to another intelligence company, IPlytics.
According to Cho Hwi-jae, the vice president and head of LG’s Intellectual Property Center, that the patents that they have are the “fruit of continuous research and development” and these are vital for them to push forward to be competitive in the industry and these is “what motivates our employees to think creatively.” He then continues, “We believe it is our responsibility to vigorously protect our intellectual property against any and all unauthorized uses.”
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