US International Trade Commission postpones pre-ruling on LG-SK battery patent suit

The U.S. International Trade Commission's headquarters in Washington, D.C. / Korea Times file

By Kim Bo-eun

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) said Thursday (local time) that it has postponed by two weeks to next month a preliminary ruling on a battery patent suit between LG Energy Solution (LGES) and SK Innovation (SKI).

The preliminary determination for the suit filed by LGES was scheduled to be made Friday. But it is now set to be made April 2, while the final ruling is due Aug. 2.

"Additional time will be needed to complete the initial determination, which will require an extension of the target date," USITC stated in a notification.

The USITC has previously delayed multiple rulings, including a trade secret case between LGES and SKI.

LGES' parent company, LG Chem, filed the battery patent suit against SKI in September 2019. LG claimed that SKI infringed on LGES' patents in the U.S. involving battery separators and cathode materials.

The patent suit is related to another claim LGES filed against SKI over trade secrets. In April 2019, LGES filed the case with the USITC claiming that SKI had stolen its electric vehicle battery trade secrets by recruiting former LG employees. SKI has denied the allegations.

The USITC on Feb. 10 upheld an earlier determination in favor of LGES, and barred imports of SKI's lithium-ion batteries for 10 years. The commission, however, gave temporary permits for SKI batteries and components that Ford and Volkswagen need to manufacture their EVs, to provide the carmakers time to find new vendors.

The import ban will go into effect unless U.S. President Joe Biden vetoes the ruling within 60 days ― the deadline is April 11. The ruling can be overruled by the White House based on policy grounds. There have been such precedents, although they are rare.

Both LGES and SKI said they did not have any comments regarding the delayed ruling.