L.G. Electronics landed in Court due to their 6 Motion Washing Machines

Arçelik A. recently filed a lawsuit against LG Electronics and its subsidiaries in Germany and France over patent infringement in regard to the unlicensed implementation of the company’s direct-drive technology in“6 Motion” washing machines which are launched by LG Electronics. Arçelik is the owner of brands like Beko and Grundig.

Arçelik is amongst the top 100 global patent applicants of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). So, the company was granted a patent relating to its ‘direct drive’ washing machine technology and was originally developed by Arçelik only. The application for a patent was filed in 1997.

You must be curious to know how this technology works. So the answer to your question is here, this technology crucially prevents damage to clothes by enabling the drum to perform a half-turn cradle movement. Therefore this technology actually attracted the attention of many customers as well as manufacturers.

Series of events which lead to a lawsuit:

• Patent granted to Arçelik in 1997relating to its ‘direct drive’ washing machine technology.
• LG Electronics started the unlicensed implementation of the company’s direct-drive technology in its “6 Motion” washing machines.
• After becoming aware of this infringement, Arçelik warned LG Electronics regarding the case and since then Arçelik has made every effort to resolve the dispute amicably with LG Electronics.
• But, LG Electronics was determined to reject all of these efforts.
• As a result, Arçelik filed a lawsuit against LG Electronics.

Arçelik, being a listed company, has a responsibility on its shoulders to ensure the protection of the hard work of its R&D team, its significant investment in innovation and intellectual property rights globally. Both the companies remained in talks for their ongoing collaborations in other fields also. Now it would be interesting to observe the impact of their legal battle on their collaborations.

Arçelik is having a vast expansion globally. It is having its reach all over the world with over 30,000 employees, 11 brands i.e., Beko, Grundig, Blomberg, Elektra Bregenz, Arctic, Leisure, Flavel, Defy, Altus, Dawlance, and Voltas Beko), 35 sales and marketing offices in 32 countries, and 23 production facilities in Turkey, Romania, Russia, China, South Africa, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.

Arçelik offers products and services in almost 147 countries. Arçelik being the second largest white goods company in Europe, reached a turnover of a total of 31, 9 billion Turkish Lira in 2019. It receives 70% of its revenue from the international market. Arçelik is known as the R&D leader in Turkey. It is holding nearly 3,500 international patent applications to date. Arçelik engages the man force of over 1,500 staff in 20 R&D Centres across six countries.