SK Innovation denies 'sanctionable spoilation' accusation
This picture shows the corporate logos of LG Chem, left, and SK. Korea Times file
By Kim Yoo-chul
As the final ruling by the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) over SK Innovation's alleged direct involvement in stealing battery secrets from LG Chem is approaching, the SK Group affiliate filed its view to the ITC insisting that it didn't engage in “sanctionable spoliation.”
“LG moves for sanctions under Commission Rules 210.25 (a) and 210.33 (b), which expressly authorize sanctions for violation of a discovery order, but LG doesn't allege that SK committed any such violation. LG's motion therefore cannot be based on these rules and instead relies on an argument,” SK Innovation told the USITC, a copy of which was obtained by The Korea Times, Tuesday.
“SK didn't engage in the spoliation of evidence. Spoliation of evidence is a serious charge, and sanctions for spoliation are only warranted under a demanding standard. The party requesting sanctions must show that the party to be sanctioned destroyed relevant evidence that the party had a duty to preserve with a culpable state of mind. LG has not met its burden on any of these requirements, let alone all three,” according to the filing.
SK Innovation said LG Chem wasn't the inventor of Patent 994 (US Patent 10,121,994) and claimed LG's position that SK has been continuing to dispose of any relevant documents is far from fact. “Based on the results of that teardown in July 2019, SK first concluded that the LG cells within (those) modules infringed Patent 994. This investigation was therefore reasonably anticipated in July 2019, and certainly no earlier than mid-June 2019. Everything before this period is therefore irrelevant to this investigation and the spoliation claim because there was no duty to preserve any of the alleged evidence at that time.”
The USITC's final determination in the case, which ruled earlier in favor of LG Chem, has been set for Oct. 5. Since April last year, the USITC has been investigating LG Chem's complaint, claiming its battery secrets were stolen. If the USITC upholds this in its final determination in accordance with earlier preliminary ruling, then SK will face a possible ban on importing relevant materials for use in battery cells and packs and exporting batteries to the United States.
Settlement talks were under way before the final USITC ruling though the two sides are still known to have differed over the specific terms of compensation.
Regarding the updated filing by SK, LG issued a statement asking SK to stop convoluting the argument. “There's no need for LG to respond to SK's recent filings to the USITC. But we want SK to stop misleading overall dispute flows as its recent filing to the USITC does not mean that LG Chem's position toward the issue might have been confirmed as a lie,” according to the LG statement.
“We want all interested parties to keep an eye on the soon-to-be-announced official opinion by the Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII). The results will tell all,” it added. OUII is an independent body representing public interests.