Battery Lawsuit Off-Court Public Opinion Battle‥SK Innovation "We Will Take the Battery Lawsuit to the End"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] The legal battle over electric vehicle batteries between LG Chem and SK Innovation has ultimately reached a breaking point. Separately from the lawsuit, the two companies, which had been engaged in sharp exchanges off the record, have decided to suspend negotiations over the settlement amount that had been intermittently ongoing.

According to industry sources on the 7th, SK Innovation has established an internal policy to see the battery lawsuit against LG Chem through to the final ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and plans to respond centered around the SK Group.

Until now, LG Chem and SK Innovation have been conducting lawsuits and countersuits while simultaneously negotiating behind the scenes. Recently, LG Chem's working-level team proposed a settlement amount of several trillion won to SK Innovation. With the gap in the settlement amount not narrowing, the two companies engaged in sharp exchanges over the past weekend, which appears to have led to SK Innovation's decision to suspend negotiations.

On the 4th, LG Chem pointed out in a statement that SK Innovation not only took the technology but also filed a lawsuit, to which SK Innovation responded by asserting that the patents were obtained through independent development and urged to "face the lawsuit confidently."

In response, LG Chem rebutted on Sunday the 6th, stating, "When registering patents for developed technology, we consider strict criteria such as whether it contains core elements as key technology," and SK Innovation countered immediately, arguing that if prior technology existed, there would be no reason to file patents that could be invalidated.

Industry insiders expect that although SK Innovation has decided to suspend negotiations, it may return to the negotiating table before the ITC's final ruling on October 15. This is because if the ITC decides to ban the import of SK Innovation's products, the damage could exceed the settlement amount.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.