LG sues Hisense for patent infringement

LG Electronics has filed a patent infringement lawsuit with a district court in California against Chinese multinational appliance and electronics manufacturer Hisense, the Korean tech giant said Tuesday.

It claimed most of Hisense’s TV products sold in the United States violated its patents, noting that it had also asked that the Chinese company be ordered to pay compensation for the infringements.

The latest suit centered on four of

LG’s patent technologies including one for improving the user interface.

Hisense is the fourth-largest TV manufacturer in the world in terms of sales as of first half of this year, and is continuing to expand its presence in the global TV market.

LG said it had sent a warning letter to Hisense earlier this year, urging it to stop its infringements and resolve the issue through negotiations.

The company decided to take legal action as Hisense had maintained an “insincere attitude” in dealing with the issue.

“LG Electronics will continue to react firmly to unlicensed implementation of our patent technologies to actively protect our intellectual properties,” said Jeon Saenggyu, an executive vice president of LG’s Intellectual Property Center.

The Korean firm, which is not typically known for aggressive strategies, has recently appeared to be charting a new course, making comments and taking legal action against its rivals.

In September, the company filed patent infringement lawsuits with a district court in Munich against Turkish home appliance manufacturer Arcelik and its German affiliates Beko Deutschland and Grundig Intermedia.

The suits centered on the unlicensed implementation of LG’s freezer door ice-making technology featured in the three companies’ refrigerators sold in Europe.

LG has also pulled the trigger on Samsung Electronics, playing down the latter’s 8K QLED TV as “not a real 8K TV” because it did not meet standards set by an international standard-setting body.