Samsung was sued for a patent sold by LG

 

LG Electronics' mobile business ended

LG Electronics started the mobile business in 1995 under the name of LG Information and Communication. Starting with the success of the CYON (one of mobile brands) they continued to advance with chocolate phone, Prada phone, Lollipop, etc. and it once reached to the third place in the global mobile phone market. However, in the process of moving to the smartphone era, sales began to decline as they were unable to adapt. Since the first deficit in the second quarter of 2015, the deficit continued until last year, and the deficit amount was accumulated over 5 trillion won. Eventually, in April 2021, LG Electronics announced the withdrawal of the mobile business, and LG smartphones disappeared into history.

lge.co.kr
Notice of business termination

 Wireless division to be dismantled, what is the patent?

Upon the news of LG Electronics' mobile withdrawal, related industries and patent companies began to pay attention to the patents owned by LG. Although the company withdrew due to deteriorating profitability, the technological power is world-class for the last 26 years. According to a survey by IPlytics, a German patent research institute, LG Electronics ranked third in the world with 3,700 global 5G standard patents. Communication standard essential patents are more important because just a few companies such as Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nokia have dominated the market. The industry is analyzing that the value of LG Electronics' 5G standard patent will reach US$1-2 billion.

Current status of LG Electronics' wireless communication patent applications by year

Samsung attacked by LG patent

On April 30, Scramoge Technology, an Irish company, filed a lawsuit in the Texas Western District Court, claiming that Samsung Electronics infringed on a patent related to wireless charging. The reason why this patent infringement lawsuit is particularly noticeable is that the original owner of the patent was LG Innotek. In February, LG Innotek sold a total of 123 patents, including 95 patents registered with the US Patent Office and 28 pending patents, to Scramoge. Among the patents purchased at that time, three patents related to wireless charging (US9553476, US9825482, US9997962) were the ones that Samsung Electronics claimed to have infringed. LG Innotek said that they’ve already been pursuing the sale of patents after the wireless charging business was discontinued in 2019, and that it has nothing to do with LG Electronics' withdrawal of the mobile business. However, as a patent registered by a domestic company having a lawsuit against other domestic companies, the industry is showing concern.

wipsglobal.com
LG Innotek's patents sold to Scramoge

What is LG Electronics' decision?

In this first quarter earnings announcement, LG Electronics said that they have no plans to sell wireless communication-related patents, and that R&D on core mobile technologies will continue apart from the end of the business. This is because wireless communication technology is highly utilized internally, including not only mobile but also smart home appliances and IoT-based new product development. However, experts predict that unused patents could be sold because more than US$18 million cost a year only to maintain wireless communication patents. We have to watch how LG Electronics will use those patents.