LG Electronics reduces legal risk in TV patent battle against Japan’s Maxell

[Photo by Han Joo-hyung]

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. has managed to mitigate the risks with a smaller amount of mandatory damages in the legal battle against Japan’s Maxell Ltd., formerly Hitachi Maxell Ltd., on TV patents in the U.S.

According to industry sources on Monday, LG Electronics has received a favorable jury verdict in a court in New Jersey, the U.S., which reduced the damages to $14 million from the initial $45 million.

The legal conflict between LG Electronics and Maxell dates back to 2014 when Maxell and the U.K. Mondis Technology Ltd. filed a lawsuit against the Korean tech giant for allegedly infringing patented TV and monitor display technologies.

The prolonged battle posed a great threat to LG Electronics in April when the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey First Circuit ruled in favor of the Japanese plaintiff, ordering LG Electronics to pay $45 million in damages for the infringement of one patent related to display technology, the “plug and play” feature, among the five patents that Maxell had claimed were infringed.

The key feature in the lawsuit is a core technology equipped with displays, which receive attribute information, such as resolution, from external video signal sources.

LG Electronics appealed against the judgment, arguing that the damages were too high as the patent‘s ownership expired in 2014.

The jury accepted the claim and reduced the damages.

LG Electronics will continue to engage in additional legal proceedings, including appeals, to minimize the risk of indemnification.