LG countersues Hitachi in plasma patent dispute

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 19 June 2007 01:27

Your IT - Home IT

LG Electronics has filed a countersuit against Hitachi, seeking an injunction on patent infringement of LG's PDP technology plus monetary compensation.

The Korean company is suing Hitachi, its US subsidiary, and joint venture Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display, alleging they have infringed upon at least seven of LG's patents relating to plasma display panels.

"Intellectual property is one of LG's essential assets, which we will always uncompromisingly protect," said Jeong Hwan Lee, executive vice president and head of LG Electronics Intellectual Property Center. "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."

Earlier this year, Hitachi sued LG for patent infringement involving similar technologies. At the time, Hitachi officials said "because the parties' evaluations of the patents vastly differ and the licensing discussions have reached an impasse, HPPL filed the lawsuit to resolve the dispute."

At least they agree about that: "The case is a result of a difference of opinion over the proprietary nature of each company’s PDP technologies," said LG officials.