[서화목] SK Innovation sued LG Energy Solution

SK Innovation claimed that "LG Energy Solution is making groundless distortion claims" regarding the patent invalidity trial of the Patent Tribunal related to the U.S. battery patent lawsuit.

Regarding the decision to reject the investigation of eight IPR cases filed against LG Energy Solution to the U.S. Patent Tribunal (PTAB) on the 15th, SK Innovation said, "PTAB will reject IPR because of overlapping claims."

SK Innovation explained, "The head of the U.S. Patent Office made an announcement on September 24 last year to encourage the U.S. to actively proceed with the decision, and since then, PTAB has rejected all IPRs for patents pending in ITC lawsuits."

In fact, in the U.S., criticism is reportedly raised that the PTAB's decision to dismiss the launch of the investigation on the grounds of overlapping procedures is an abuse of authority and lacks legal grounds.

On the previous day, LG Energy Solution said, "SK Innovation has not even started a fight over the validity of LG Energy Solution's patents," adding, "Industry experts believe that the rejection of the investigation will hurt the patent lawsuit strategy."

In response, SK Innovation countered, "PTAB judged that six of the eight IRP cases raised by SK Innovation suggested a reasonable possibility of invalidation, and in particular, it presented a strong invalidation basis for the 517 patent."

Regarding the IPR that LG Energy Solution filed for SK Innovation's patent, he said, "The patent is pending only in the federal court, not in the ITC, and the federal court itself is suspended."

SK Innovation said, "We know about procedural differences and ignore them and claim that LG Energy Solution has gained the upper hand as if it had been granted a patent invalidity trial," adding, "It is a typical distortion of public opinion.

"The change in U.S. government policy will not bring about a fundamental change in the judgment of the actuality of the case," said Lim Soo-gil, head of the Value Creation Center at SK Innovation. "I think the PTAB's remarks on the possibility of invalidity can have a positive impact on the ITC process."

"If the PTAB decided to reject the nullification application for reasons of duplicate claims, it is clear that they have lost the opportunity because all of their applications for the most efficient nullification were rejected," LG Energy Solution said.

SK Innovation and LG Energy Solution's patent invalidation lawsuit begins in September 2019 when SK Innovation filed a lawsuit with ITC, claiming that SK Innovation violated patents for electric vehicle batteries.

SK Innovation sued LG Energy Solution and LG Electronics to ITC for infringement of one patent (994) related to battery cell structure of secondary battery, one patent related to battery cell structure, and one patent related to battery module (398).

In the same month, LG Energy Solution also filed a lawsuit against the Delaware Federal District Court for infringement of three U.S. patents for secondary battery separation (SRS®) and one for bipolar material.

In March 2020, LG Energy Solution filed one invalid trial of a patent (398) filed by SK Innovation in Delaware with PTAB. Six months later, on 30 September, the PTAB decided to launch the investigation and is in progress.

On the other hand, SK Innovation raised a total of eight IPRs, including four IPRs and four IPRs, for LG Energy Solution's two anode materials patents from late May to early July 2020, but six out of eight were rejected on November 30, 2020, and the other two were rejected on January 12, 2020.