LG, Hitachi Clash Over Patents
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
The hostility between LG Electronics and Hitachi is aggravating after LG filed a counter-suit against the Japanese competitor in the United States over plasma display patents.
Hitachi first sued LG in April, alleging that its plasma display-related patents were infringed by LG in the United States. In retaliation, LG Monday filed a counter-suit with the U.S. District Court of Texas, saying seven of its core plasma display patents have been stolen by Hitachi.
LG said it is determined to win the court battle, though most cases tend to end in a compromise.
``Intellectual property is one of LG's essential assets, which we will always uncompromisingly protect,'' Lee Jeong-hwan, head of the LG Electronics Intellectual Property Center, said in a press release. ``Japanese firms are filing more and more lawsuits as competition in the global display market has increased dramatically. We will proactively deal with the situation based on our patented and patent-applied-for technologies.''
Plasma is one of the two mainstream TV formats for large screens, along with LCDs (liquid crystal display). LG and Hitachi have been trying to reach a settlement regarding the plasma patents since 2005, but so far efforts have been in vain.
In its lawsuit against LG filed with the Texas Court, Hitachi had called for LG to give ``monetary compensation for damages'' and requested the court implement a ``permanent injunction prohibiting LG's plasma display panel product sales in the United States.'' LG, in return, said the case is a result of a difference of opinion over the proprietary nature of each company's technologies.
``We expect that it will take at least a year or two before the suit is resolved,'' an LG media relations official said on the phone. ``But once the ruling is made, we will be able to reap retrospective royalties.''
LG's claims include four patents related to methods for operating plasma display panels and three patents related to their apparatus and cell structure.
The Korean company had a similar feud with Matsushita between 2004 and 2005, filing lawsuits and requesting government interventions in Japan and South Korea. But they settled a cross-licensing agreement in April 2005 and have maintained good relations since then.
Matsushita and LG were the world's largest plasma TV sellers in the first quarter of the year, selling 720,000 and 624,000 units, respectively.