LG Electronics sues China’s TCL over LTE patent in Germany

LG Electronics has filed a lawsuit with two German courts against China’s phone manufacturer TCL over patent infringement, the South Korean tech giant said Sunday.

In the suits filed with the district courts in Mannheim and Düsseldorf, LG claimed the Chinese vendor infringed three standard patents owned by LG in relation to 4G Long Term Evolution telecommunications on mobile devices.

The three standard patents are essential to enabling LTE communications on any phone. 

TCL, which sold over 15 million units of mobile devices last year, did not respond to LG’s license negotiation requests in 2016, according to the Korean company.

LG has been taking aggressive measures against violations of its patents by global companies as part of its efforts to protect intellectual properties.

Earlier this month, the Korean firm sued Chinese TV maker Hisense in a US court, accusing it of infringing four of its patents.

In September, it sued three European home appliance manufacturers at a court in Munich for allegedly infringing its ice-making patents for side-by-side refrigerators.

With regard to the LTE patents, LG used US-based phone maker BLU in 2017 and French firm Wiko last year.

After the lawsuit, LG and BLU clinched a license contract.

Against Wiko, the Korean company won in the first trial, proving its technological prowess.

According to TechIPM, LG held the largest number of patents in 4G LTE and LTE-A telecom technologies from 2012 through 2016.

“Intellectual properties are the fruit of ceaseless efforts in research and development and they are the fundamentals of competitiveness,” said Jeon Saen-gyu, executive vice president at LG. “The company will take stern measures against illegal use of its IP.”

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)