A South Korean court sided with LG Chem against SK Innovation in the two companies lawsuit over alleged patent violation over battery technology on Thursday.
The Seoul Central District Court dismissed SK Innovation’s request for withdrawal of the lawsuit as well as its request for damages. The company said it will immediately appeal the decision.
In February, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) also sided with LG Chem in a default judgment, saying SK Innovation intentionally withheld or destroyed evidence. A final judgment by the USITC is expected in October.
The two sides having negotiating reparation payment that SK Innovation should pay LG Chem.
LG Chem will now be looking to increase the amount it seeks from its recent victory in South Korea.
SK Innovation is seeking to prepare for civil lawsuits after USITC makes its final judgment.
The amount LG Chem is demanding is unknown but is expected to be around 2 trillion won, according to people in the battery industry. Publicly, the company has said it was demanding a reasonable amount based on objective evidence that shareholders and investors can accept, without elaborating.
Other people have said LG Chem is internally expecting the final payment to be down to around early 1 trillion won.
Meanwhile, SK Innovation wants to pay less than 1 trillion won __ and between 300 billion won to 500 billion won. The company has sold its Peru mining facility to secure cash for its battery business, a person familiar with the matter said, and is worried the reparation to large will slow down its investment schedule.
SK Innovation is currently building two factories in Georgia. Battery production will begin in full from one of the factories at least a year from now. It is aiming for a civil lawsuit to lower the reparation amount.
The dispute between the two isn’t expected to end anytime soon and will be prolonged, the person said, as they can’t agree on the right settlement.
