LG wins patent lawsuit against TCL in Germany
LG Electronics said on Tuesday it has won a patent infringement lawsuit against TCL in Germany.
According to LG, the Mannheim Regional Court last week ruled in favour of the South Korean company, having found that TCL infringed upon LG's standard essential patent, EP 2 627 146 B1, in Germany. The patent is related to LTE technology.
LG said it would take immediate steps to halt TCL from using patented technology in its smartphones without a licence.
The Chinese company can appeal the decision however, and its request to the German Federal Patent Court to nullify the patent in question is still pending.
In November 2019, LG filed infringement lawsuits for three patents against TCL. There are two lawsuits still ongoing for the other patents. The hearing for one started last week and another will start in May.
LG said it would "vigorously protect our intellectual property against any and all unauthorised uses".
Meanwhile, the future of the South Korean electronics maker's own loss-making smartphone operation continues to remain uncertain. In January, LG said it was "thoroughly reviewing the direction" of its mobile business and open to "all possibilities".
According to market research firm IPlytics, as of February this year, LG ranked third globally in 5G standard essential patents with around 3,700 patent families.