By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter



A patent row between Korea and Japan over plasma display panels (PDP) has entered its second round as Matsushita Electric Industrial filed for a court injunction Monday to halt sales of LG’s plasma modules in Japan.

In February, Korea’s Samsung SDI suffered similar patent jitters on plasma modules as Japan’s Fujitsu filed a court action, although the case ended with a mutual agreement four months later.

Arguing LG had infringed on its patents for technology that dissipates heat generated when PDPs are operated, Matsushita also asked the Tokyo Customs Service to suspend imports of LG products.

In a brisk response, LG on Tuesday contended the claim was totally groundless, vowing to confront Matsushita’s move head-on through a three-stage counterattack.

First, LG plans to take legal countermeasures in Japan as well as bring Panasonic Korea, Matsushita’s affiliate here, to the Seoul court to block any entry of Matsushita products.

Second, the cash cow of LG Group, Korea’s second-biggest chaebol, said it would seek to expand legal countermeasures by filing a series of suits in the United States or with the World Trade Organization.

As a final step, LG plans to further extend the patent battle to other areas such as computers, a segment in which LG claims Matsushita is violating its patents, with the aim of dealing `irreversible blows’’ to the Japanese firm’s global businesses.

While LG is exporting only a few hundred PDP modules to Japan every month, the company has hit on all stops to settle disputes with Matsushita as the case may have a global impact.

``We have met Matsushita executives four times over the past months to ink a cross-license deal because Matsushita also uses our patented technologies,’’ an LG spokesman said.

``But the talks fell apart because they wanted royalties based on an overvaluation of its own patents and an underrating of our patents. They should admit the prowess of Korean PDP makers,’’ he added.

PDPs are the main components in plasma-display television sets, one of the most rapidly-growing segments of the flat-screen television market along with liquid crystal display TVs.

Back in 2002, Japanese companies controlled the global plasma panel market, according to Techno Systems Research (TSR).

Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display (FHP), a joint venture of the two juggernauts, accounted for 30.9 percent of worldwide PDP module shipments in that year, while Matsushita accounted for 22.2 percent.

Samsung and LG wowed the world the following year by substantially slashing the gap with leader FHP and outpacing Matsushita, carving out 18.7 percent and 17.7 percent of the market, respectively.

For this year, the Japan-based TSR expects Samsung and LG will dominate the business with shares of 24 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr