Samsung, LG End Legal Disputes
Rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics said on Tuesday they have agreed to call off all their legal disputes over alleged technology theft and vandalismincluding a conflict over a set of damaged washing machines. The two companies said they would withdraw all complaints against each other.
"Samsung and LG agreed to end all ongoing disputes to end tension," the two groups said in a joint statement. "We will also refrain from making more legal disputes and make efforts to settle issues through dialogue and consultation."
The agreement extends to Samsung Electronics subsidiary Samsung Display and to LG Display Co Ltd. Samsung Display employees were indicted in February on charges of stealing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel technology from LG Display. Samsung Display has said the technology was widely known in the industry and that the indictment was excessive.
Under the agreement, two disputes between Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., and another between Samsung Display Co. and LG Display Co. will end "unconditionally."
The announcement comes more than a month after LG appliances chief Jo Seong-jin was indicted by Seoul prosecutors on a charge of deliberately damaging Samsung washing machines at a retail store in Germany last September, following a formal complaint filed by Samsung seeking criminal punishment.