BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Whirlpool Corp. said Friday it has filed a second patent-infringement lawsuit against LG Electronics Inc. and the South Korean company’s U.S. affiliate, LG Electronics USA Inc., regarding clothes-washer patents.
Home-appliance giant Whirlpool said the latest suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleges that a line of LG washers sold in the United States infringes upon two patents secured by Whirlpool in 1988 and 2001 to protect innovative washing technology.
The latest suit involves a patented method of rolling clothing in a washer to better clean them while saving energy and water. The suit also involves a patented method of passing detergent through fabric to provide better cleaning action.
The first suit, filed in August, contends that several lines of LG clothes washers infringe another two patents Whirlpool secured in 1993. The patents cover technology that protects wash and rinse cycles in high-efficiency clothes washers, which deliver sharply higher energy and water savings.
An LG Electronics spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment. LG Electronics makes consumer electronics, home appliances and telecommunications equipment.
Whirlpool said that in both cases, it is asking the court to make LG remove the washers in question from its U.S. supply chain and pay unspecified compensation for damages that already have occurred from the infringements.
Last June, Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool filed a separate suit claiming LG Electronics used its registered trademark “Whisper Quiet” on some of its washers and dryers.
Shares of Whirlpool closed at $72.50, down $1.20, or 1.6 percent, Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
From Miami Herald