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| LG Chem CEO Shin Hak-cheol, left, and SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun / Korea Times file |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
SK Innovation has filed a damage suit against LG Chem to defend itself from the latter's claim that it infringed upon trade secrets, the company said Monday.
The nation's leading EV battery manufacturer said it filed a pair of lawsuits with the International Trade Commission (ITC) and a U.S. court in Delaware for defamation, and the latest move is aimed at securing its customers and market. The suit claims damages of 1 billion won ($846,680).
"The situation has become intolerable and we can no longer stand the rival company making groundless accusations," an SK Innovation official said. "We will take all possible measures to normalize our business and improve our reputation," the official said.
The company said this is not the first time LG Chem has initiated frivolous lawsuits, demanding its rival company to stop condemning normal and legitimate business activities in the battery business and make efforts to benefit both companies and the nation.
Regarding the counterclaim, LG Chem said SK Innovation's legal action is regretful.
"The ITC launched its investigation on May 30, and things will be clarified soon enough. We're afraid that SK Innovation is complacent with the current situation," an LG Chem official said.
Under its rule, the ITC has to set a target date for completing the investigation within 45 days after the start of the investigation.
The countersuit comes after LG Chem filed a pair of lawsuits with the ITC and a U.S. court in Delaware in April, requesting an embargo on importing EV battery-related products from SK Innovation, while demanding compensation for the piracy of trade secrets.
LG Chem said its filed lawsuits as its own investigation showed that its core technologies related to secondary batteries have been leaked to SK Innovation since 2017 when the latter announced a plan to focus its efforts on batteries.
LG Chem accused SK Innovation of having attempted to steal confidential business information through employee stealing. SK Innovation has strongly denied such allegations.
Both SK Innovation and LG Chem are among the biggest players in the EV market.
