[Courtesy of LG Electronics]
In its ruling last week, the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany found that TCL had infringed on claims in LG’s standard-essential patent, LG Electronics said, adding it would take immediate steps to stop TCL from the "unlawful use" of LG's technology. In November 2019, LG filed a lawsuit in Germany, claiming some technologies used for TCL's feature and smartphones violated LG's three technologies designed to facilitate LTE communication in mobile phones.
"Our patented technologies are the fruit of continuous research and development and are central to our ongoing competitiveness in the industry and what motivates our employees to think creatively," LG's intellectual property center head Cho Hwi-jae said in a statement on March 9. The German court's decision came amid widespread speculation over the future of LG's trobled smartphone business which has been in the red since the second quarter of 2015.
LG has strived to make a turnaround in its mobile business, relocating its smartphone production base to Vietnam, but its mobile communication division posted an operating loss of 841 billion won ($738 million) in 2020. The company has admitted that it's time to make "the best choice" over the future of its smartphone business.
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