SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s top home appliance maker, LG Electronics Inc., is suing American rival Whirlpool Corp. for allegedly violating LG’s washing machine patents.
LG Electronics filed its lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, accusing Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool of illegally copying patents, including one for technology that helps prevent clothes from being twisted together inside the washing machine, the company said.
The lawsuit concerns technologies in Whirlpool’s Calypso and Duet washing machine models.
In an e-mailed statement, Whirlpool spokesman Tom Kline said the company had not yet seen the suit but “we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against this legal action and aggressively pursue our own patent infringement suit.”
Whirlpool filed that suit in August against LG Electronics Inc. and its U.S. affiliate, LG Electronics USA Inc., plus a trademark infringement suit two months earlier.
LG Electronics, which also makes mobile phones, computers and televisions, posted a $506.3 million net profit in the first three months of this year.
Whirlpool shares rose $1.08 to close at $64.65 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
From Philly.com
