SK Inno "Strongly Request President Biden's Veto on ITC Final Ruling"

"ITC Has Never Verified LG Energy Solution's Trade Secrets"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] On the 5th, SK Innovation expressed regret over the final opinion of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and announced that it would request a presidential veto. SK Innovation claims that its independent battery technology development efforts and their substance were not properly examined.

Upon the release of the ITC's final opinion, SK Innovation stated, "We plan to actively clarify the issues implied in the ITC decision during the Presidential Review process and strongly request the exercise of the veto power."

SK Innovation opposed the ITC's final opinion, saying, "LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have different battery development and manufacturing methods, so LG Energy Solution's trade secrets are unnecessary, and based on over 40 years of independent development, we have already signed supply contracts with global automakers as early as 2011."

In particular, SK Innovation argued that the ITC made its decision based on procedural flaws in the lawsuit without substantive verification of LG Energy Solution's trade secret infringement claims.

SK Innovation explained, "Although the ITC decided that trade secret infringement occurred, it still has not determined what the trade secrets allegedly infringed are or how the infringement took place," adding, "LG Energy Solution, which filed the lawsuit under the pretext of trade secret infringement, failed to present evidence of the infringement, and nowhere in the ITC opinion was evidence of the core issue of trade secret infringement presented."

LG Energy Solution submitted a 100-page document in response to the ITC's request to specify the infringed trade secrets. Regarding this, SK Innovation stated, "Even the ITC judged that the submissions could not be considered trade secrets," and added, "While the ITC designated 22 trade secrets that LG reluctantly narrowed down, it acknowledged the ambiguity of their scope and ordered separate approval to determine whether individual imported items actually fall under the import ban."

In response, SK Innovation expressed concerns that "due to the ITC's ambiguous decision, legitimate imports are effectively blocked, which will cause serious economic and environmental harm such as the decline in competitiveness of the U.S. electric vehicle battery industry, unfair competition restrictions within the market, and environmental pollution caused by carbon emissions due to delays in electric vehicle battery supply."

They also pointed out that the ITC's decision did not sufficiently consider the impact of import bans and other measures on the public interest.

SK Innovation added, "The basis for calculating the period for the deferred products of Ford and Volkswagen is unclear," and "As is known, both companies claim that the deferral period is absolutely insufficient and that there are no alternative methods available."

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