Samsung Electronics has filed a countersuit against former patent executives who filed a patent lawsuit against the company. They allege that they have stolen trade secrets and violated their duty of good faith. It is believed that the counterclaim sent a message saying, "We will not respond to the demand for settlement money through negotiations." According to the US Eastern Court of Texas on the 13th (local time), Samsung Electronics filed a mobile phone voice recognition and In response to the earphone-related patent infringement lawsuit, the company responded that it was not possible to exercise the patent right because it did not infringe all of the 10 patents filed and the lawsuit included the unlawful act of theft of trade secrets. I put it out.
Samsung Electronics counterclaims against former patent officer
Along with this, for 10 years as the founder of Synergy IP and the company, former IP Center Director (Vice President) Ahn Seung-ho, who oversaw Samsung Electronics' patent strategy, Tekiya, etc. , filed lawsuits related to unlawful collusion under civil law. A Synergy IP Managing Director (former Samsung Electronics IP Center in-house lawyer) was also the subject of the lawsuit. At the same time, Samsung Electronics demanded compensation for damages, return of unjust profits, and prohibition of illegal acts (such as theft of trade secrets and lawsuits using trade secrets). Ahn recently filed a lawsuit in the East Texas Court for damages, alleging Samsung Electronics willfully infringed 10 patents. Tekiya, a US earphone and audio equipment company, is a co-plaintiff. The patents that Ahn claims to have been infringed on are programs related to Samsung Electronics' hit product, the Galaxy S20 series and Galaxy Birds. “Samsung Electronics appears to be confident about the outcome of the lawsuit,” said an industry insider. While working as the head of the Samsung Electronics IP Center, Ahn oversaw Samsung Electronics' strategy and related patents related to voice recognition and wearable technology, which is the subject of this lawsuit. During his tenure as an in-house attorney at IP Center, Mr. Cho obtained and read various patent-related analyzes of Tekiya. Samsung Electronics also disclosed the fact that CEO Ahn founded the patent company Gcore in July 2019 while he was working at the company. Last year, it was confirmed that G-core purchased digital broadcasting standard-related patents owned by the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) for 14.5 billion won (approximately 1.4 billion yen). Reporter Park Shin-youngnyusos@hankyung