LG Chem brings domestic rival to U.S. court for using leaked technologies

By Lim Chang-won Posted : April 30, 2019, 13:36 Updated : April 30, 2019, 13:36

[Courtesy of LG Chem]

SEOUL -- LG Chem, a leading battery producer in South Korea, has filed a suit against its domestic rival, SK Innovation, in the United States for stealing core technologies related to secondary or rechargeable batteries through transferred employees.

LG Chem said Tuesday that it asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban SK Innovation's batteries in the American market and filed a lawsuit with a district court in Delaware to seek damages and a ban on leaked business secrets.

The battery company said it took legal action to stop SK Innovation (SKI), a subsidiary of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group, from using leaked business secrets to develop batteries and win orders, insisting transferred workers have systematically leaked technologies.

Earlier this year, South Korea's Supreme Court ruled in favor of LG Chem and imposed a two-year ban on five LG Chem employees recruited by SKI in 2017 in recognition of concerns over leaking business secrets and the gap in technology capabilities between the two companies.

LG Chem, a petrochemical and battery-making arm of South Korea's LG Group, accused SKI of having pulled key workers from all areas including research and development.

SKI has invested heavily in its battery business. It is building a battery plant in Changzhou in China's southeastern Jiangsu province. SKI's battery plant in the United States will be built in Commerce in Jackson County, Georgia. German auto giant Volkswagen has selected SKI as the fourth strategic supplier of battery cells to cover its demand in North America.

South Korea, Japan and China account for about 80 percent of the global battery market. Under a government-initiated campaign to nurture South Korea's battery industry, LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SKI have joined hands to develop next-generation technology together.
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