US International Trade Commission dismisses LG Energy Solution's request to cancel SK Innovation's 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) on Thursday (local time) dismissed LG Energy Solution (LGES)'s request to cancel a patent suit filed by SK Innovation (SKI) in 2019.

The suit was filed in September 2019, prior to LGES filing its own patent suit against SKI the same month. USITC on Wednesday sided with SKI in the suit that LGES had filed.

U.S. regulations state that any party may file a motion to introduce sanctions for the failure of a party to cooperate in investigations. LGES requested that sanctions be taken against SKI for their patent suit in August 2020, citing that SKI failed in its duty to preserve evidence for the investigation.

LGES claimed that SKI's duty to preserve evidence should have been in effect, "Well before May 16, 2019." SKI, meanwhile, asserted that it did not anticipate the ITC's investigation or any litigation relating to the patent suit until July 2019.

"The undersigned finds that SKI had a duty to preserve evidence in this investigation as of the beginning of July 2019. The evidence does not support finding a duty to preserve prior to that date," the USITC notice stated.

USITC also stated that the documents that LGES claimed SKI deleted still exist in the latter's systems and also referred to the documents in question as not relevant to this investigation.

"LG Chem's motion for issuance of an order sanctioning SKI is hereby denied," Chief Administrative Law Judge Charles Bullock stated in the signed document. LG's battery business was formerly under LG Chem, while LGES, launched in December 2020, is the new unit in charge of the business.

An SKI official said, "SKI will proceed with the lawsuit to prove our batteries' superior technology and differentiation."

LGES said the dismissal does not affect the ongoing patent suit.

"In the remaining procedures of the suit, LGES, on the basis of evidence secured through forensics, will state that SKI cannot claim patent infringements against LGES with the ITC. SKI's patent 994 is invalid as SKI applied LG's technologies to it, and SKI also has 'unclean hands' from stealing trade secrets and technology,” LGES said in a statement, referring in the latter part to the USITC's earlier ruling that SKI stole LGES' trade secrets by poaching its employees.

The ITC-affiliated Office of Unfair Import Investigations issued its view in support of LGES' requests for sanctions against SKI in September 2020.