Compressor Patent Dispute
LG Electronics has filed an invalidity suit against German Compressor manufacturer Secop, which has the largest share in the small-sized compressor market, with the Torino Court in Italy. It comes as a response to a lawsuit by the German company in July this year that LG Electronics had infringed its patents, claiming it to stop producing and selling small compressors while demanding damages.
According to industry sources on September 18, LG Electronics has filed an invalidity suit over Secop’s two compressor patents in Europe, which are the structural designs of mufflers for reducing noise and vibration on compressor discharge lines, and a vacuum tube link that rivets refrigeration pipes. Small compressors are widely used in small refrigerators and water purifiers.
The South Korean electronics giant will make aggressive efforts to make it clear that Secop’s patents are invalid as they are widely used in the industry. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected Secop’s registration of the two cases as patents this year as well as in 2012. Furthermore, LG Electronics will prove that it has not violated Secop’s patents as its own developed compressor technologies are different from those of Secop.
LG Electronics has registered approximately 2,700 patents regarding compressors in South Korea alone, with an additional 526 and 121 patents in the U.S. and Europe respectively.
The company is pushing to increase external sales of compressors to expand its home and appliance division focused on finished products toward core components. It will continuously increase the share of external sales while selling more than 40% of the total compressor production to external clients as of the first half of the year.
An official in the industry said, “The world’s top small-sized compressor maker Secop seems to have filed against LG Electronics as it felt threatened by LG’s move to dramatically expand the business-to-business (B2B).”