Whirlpool Corporation Wins Battle in Patent War with LG Electronics

Orange County – In a refrigerator patent infringement case brought on by LG Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation announced that it won a stay motion due to progress in separate proceedings challenging the validity of LG’s patents. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has initially rejected all four of the patents asserted by LG against Whirlpool and has deemed them unpatentable on multiple grounds.

In granting Whirlpool’s motion for at least the next six months, the United States District Court in Trenton, New Jersey, commented that in light of the swiftness at which the USPTO rejected LG’s patents in pending reexamination proceedings, the interest of justice are best served by staying the district court proceedings and allowing the reexaminations to continue. Due to the fact that LG’s patents have been rejected so early on in its case, it’s likely that the patents will not survive the reexamination process and LG’s patent infringement case will be dismissed.

“We are very pleased with this decision,” stated Marc Bitzer, president of Whirlpool North America Region. “The decision provides necessary time for the USPTO to fully reevaluate LG’s patents. We expect LG’s patents to be found invalid under the reexamination proceedings.”

Whirlpool Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of more than $18 billion in 2010, 71,000 employees, and 66 manufacturing and technical research centers around the world. Other brands marketed by Whirlpool Corporation include Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, Bauknecht and other major brand names to consumers in nearly every country around the world.

This latest victory for Whirlpool comes in a long-heated patent battle with LG. In 2009, LG originally sued and attempted to have Whirlpool’s patents invalidated. Whirlpool countersued and in March 2010 and the jury trial found mostly in favor of Whirlpool and awarded it $1,786,925.

No comment was made available by LG Electronics.