Turkish Company Sues LG Electronics over Expired Patent

A Turkish consumer electronics company has filed a "nonsensical" patent suit against LG Electronics. The patent claimed by the Turkish company Arcelik has already been expired. Industry watchers say the Turkish company appears to have filed the suit in an attempt to offset the patent infringement lawsuit filed by LG Electronics against the Turkish company.

Arcelik filed a patent infringement suit against LG Electronics in German and French courts on Feb. 12, claiming that the Korean company infringed its washing machine patent. The lawsuit is seen as a countersuit against LG Electronics, which filed a patent infringement suit against three companies, Arcelik, Beko and Grundig, in the Munich District Court in Germany in September 2019.

However, LG Electronics confirmed that the washing machine patent claimed by Arcelik had already expired at the end of 2017. Arcelik's lawsuit is seen as an attempt to fool the media to disguise its disadvantageous situation.

LG Electronics filed a lawsuit against the three companies including Arcelik in 2019, claiming that their two-door refrigerators sold in Europe had infringed its patented technology. This patent relates to ice-making in a refrigerator door, an LG Electronics technology for double-door refrigerators.

LG Electronics already owns over 400 global patents on the ice-making technology. This technology allows all ice-making parts that were previously placed inside a freezer, including an ice-making machine, an ice bin and an ice-moving motor, to be placed in a freezer door.

All of three companies are affiliated with the Turkish Koc Group which sells home appliances in the European market including Turkey.