LG Electronics has decided to sue TCL. LG has launched a new lawsuit against TCL for patent infringement, it seems. The company announced this via its official website.
This patent infringement lawsuit has been filed in Germany, confirms LG. It has been filed in the German district courts of Mannheim and Düsseldorf. LG believes that TCL infringed on its LTE technology patents. This is the reason for this patent infringement lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that “TCL knowingly implemented technologies in its handsets that infringe three of LG’s standard-essential patents that cover key areas of LTE handsets”.
Those three areas are: minimizing the loss of packet transmission, control timers for uplink synchronizations, and interference reduction in the uplink synchronizing process.
LG claims that it tried to talk to TCL “numerous times” regarding patent infringement prior to this lawsuit
LG says that it tried to remedy its concerns “numerous times” before it filed this lawsuit. The company basically alleges that TCL was not cooperating, which made them file this lawsuit.
The company also mentions that BLU agreed to a licensing deal, as a result of a recent legal action. LG also mentions that the German court ruled in favor of LG in three separate litigations against Wiko.
LG is actually at the forefront when it comes to 4G LTE technology. According to TechlPm, an IP research and consulting firm, LG ranked first in 4G (LTE/LTE-A) patents every year from 2012 to 2016.
Another company called IPLytics, a Germany-based market intelligence company, lists LG as the owner of 11-percent of all 5G standard-essential patents.
LG “invested heavily” in LTE, and is trying to protect its assets
As far as the most recent lawsuit is concerned, LG said that it had to be done due to failed attempts to communicate with TCL. The company said that invested heavily in LTE, and that it had to take action to protect those important assets.
The executive vice president of LG’s Intellectual Property Center also added that the company has “a responsibility to ensure that competition in the industry takes place fairly and legally”.
TCL has yet to react to this lawsuit. The company may release an official statement in the near future, but that is not a given. TCL may opt to deal with LG via the court only, and keep everyone else in the dark until then.
If LG ends up winning this lawsuit, TCL will probably be forced to recompense LG, of course. The company will probably also need to do a licensing deal with LG if it plans on using LG’s patents moving forward. In any case, we’re expecting more information to arrive soon.