Like a bolt out the blue we read this morning that LG is to take on Miele over patents related to steam washing machines demanding that Miele chuck infringing on LG’s patents possibly leading to steam from German ears.
And LG has demanded a response from Meile by the end of October. No pressure then.
Miele has been and is willfully infringing on LG’s patents, LG said in the letter, sent last week and seen by Reuters where we picked this story up from.
“In the interest of finding an amicable resolution of this matter, we are open to having an in-person meeting in November to discuss how to resolve this matter,” the company wrote.
Miele confirmed it had received the letter.
“Miele will examine the facts and answer in the required way,” a Miele spokeswoman said in a statement, declining to give further comment for the moment.
The global washing machine market is expected to grow 2 percent this year to 123 million units, while sales are seen down 1 percent to $44 billion, market research firm GfK says. Which chimes with our assessment of what we see in the field, more cheap washing machines are dying early so, more cheap washing machines get sold, it’s sort of a self harming thing the appliance industry seems to love.
LG says it holds more than 500 patents worldwide, related to the use of steam in its washing machines, including in Europe, the United States, South Korea and China.
Steam washing machines use less water and are therefore more energy-efficient. LG said Miele was violating “a considerable number” of its patents.
Uhm, err… hold on a sec!
Steam washing machines use less water? Where’s the evidence for that then? We’d love to see that as we asked LG for evidence to support such claims many years ago and, to date, they’ve yet to provide a single shred of evidence to support that claim.
Ditto, more energy efficient.
So, in the face of no evidence to support it, we’d have to say that these claims are most probably complete and utter rubbish with zero grounding in fact that we can see.
“LG respects intellectual property rights and the company will adopt proper legal measures to defend both our reputation and the rights to our exclusive technology,” the company said in a statement.
With an official for LG stating that, “After reviewing a response from Miele, we will review possible legal measures if necessary,” said an LG official.
The official, who spoke to the Korean Times on the condition of anonymity, said LG will strongly deal with the infringement of its patents.
In other words, it’s gonna be a fight.
Oh and just as an aside, if this is intended to make people think that LG machines are as well built and durable as a Miele one is, they’re not. Not at all.
There’s not a lot of love between us and Miele as they are extremely restrictive on service and charge stupid money for spare parts but it is decent kit usually that they make.
LG is okay but, not even in the same playing field as Miele in that respect.
We don’t even know why they’re bothering getting into a fight over this as steam washing machines are largely a waste of time in our opinion and certainly not worth forking out wads of cash for.
