South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. said it will file a counter-lawsuit against Hitachi Ltd., seeking monetary compensation and a halt to sales of Hitachi displays, claiming the Japanese company infringed on patents related to LG's plasma displays. The lawsuit comes two months after a similar suit where Hitachi sued LG Electronics in the United States saying LG was infringing on seven Hitachi patents also related to displays.
"Japanese firms are filing more and more lawsuits as competition in the global display market has increased dramatically. We will proactively deal with the situation based on our patented and patent-applied-for technologies," LG Electronics said in a statement.
LG is struggling to restructure its loss-making plasma display panel business after losing out in a price war with makers of LCD, which have rolled out bigger and cheaper displays, causing plasma panel revenues to drop 28 percent from the prior year. The amount of compensation LG is seeking was not disclosed.