HiSense, LG Electronics strikes licensing deal after their patent infringement feud

HiSense, a Chinese electronics company, was revealed to have struck a licensing deal with LG Electronics. The agreement comes after the former lost in the infringement lawsuit filed by the South Korean company.

The new deal between the rivals

As per Business Korea, on March 19, LG Electronics and HiSense submitted an agreement to the district court in California. It was not specified what kind of deal that the companies agreed on, but it is surely related to some technologies for manufacturing cutting-edge television sets.

The deal between China's HiSense and LG was quite unexpected since they have just engaged in court battles where the former was proven to have infringed some of LG’s patents. At least four patents were included in the dispute and all of these are related to making TV viewing more convenient and dynamic for customers. It was mentioned that the disputed technologies improve user interfaces and speed up data transmissions based on wireless local area network or LANs.

LG sued HiSense in the U.S. court

Prior to the deal, LG Electronics sued the Chinese electronics firm which is also said to be the world’s fourth-largest TV-maker. The suit comes after LG sent warning letters to HiSense many times and asked it to refrain from using its patents.

The Korean firm was also said to have suggested a negotiation to resolve the problem but HiSense seems to have ignored the request. Thus, LG was left with no choice but to sue. Initially, the company filed the case in 2019 at the court in the Central District of California.

In its filing, LG claimed that HiSense violated its patent by misusing its technology for smart TVs. LG listed four patents that were supposedly infringed and this includes the Wi-Fi technology and backlight of the said home appliance. It was added that HiSense rejected LG’s offer to resolve the matter by signing a patent license deal, The Korea Times reported.

For the case, LG is demanding compensation for the patent infringement since HiSense turned down its offer for fair terms license agreement. Now, after almost two years, it seems that the Chinese company finally gave in and struck a deal so it can now freely use the said technology patents.