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Whirlpool Corporation Files Second Suit Against
LG For Clothes Washer Patent Infringement
Manufacturing News Center
Benton Harbor, Mich --February 19, 2004-- Whirlpool Corporation
(NYSE:WHR) announced that it has filed a second patent infringement
suit against LG Electronics, Inc., and the South Korean company's U.S.
affiliate, LG Electronics USA, Inc., for infringing clothes washer patents.
The latest suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District
of Michigan, maintains that a line of LG clothes washers sold in the U.S.
infringes two patents secured by Whirlpool in 1988 and 2001 to protect
innovative washing technology.
Similarly, the first suit, filed in August, contends that several lines
of LG clothes washers infringe another two patents secured by Whirlpool
in 1993.
In both cases, Whirlpool is asking the court to enjoin LG from infringing
the company's patents, to remove the infringing products from its U.S.
product supply chain and to pay unspecified compensation for damages that
already have occurred from the infringements.
"The people of Whirlpool Corporation work tirelessly to deliver innovative
solutions to our customers to enhance their lives and to deliver unique
benefits that set our company apart from competitors," said Michael D.
Thieneman, Whirlpool's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
"In violating these patents, LG has shown a blatant disregard for our
assets and for U.S. law."
The latest suit involves a patented method of rolling the clothes in a
washer to deliver a better cleaning performance and improved energy and
water savings. The suit also involves a patented method of passing detergent
through fabric to provide better cleaning action without the use of an
agitator.
The earlier suit involves patents that protect wash and rinse cycles in
high-efficiency clothes washers, which deliver sharply higher energy and
water savings to customers. The unique wash step provides a series of
re-circulating sprays of concentrated wash liquid onto laundry loads,
while the innovative rinse step performs a tumble motion as re-circulating
rinse sprays remove wash liquids.
Over the years, Whirlpool has been an industry leader in developing innovative
laundry solutions that provide consumers with higher levels of energy
and water efficiency combined with improved cleaning and fabric care.
The company launched its Whirlpool® Resource Saver® wash system in 1998
in many top-loading washing machines, which were the first top loaders
to earn the U.S. Department of Energy's and the Environmental Protection
Agency's ENERGY STAR® designation for energy and water savings. Whirlpool
continued to lead the way with further laundry efficiency advances in
the top-loading Whirlpool® Calypso® wash motion clothes washer and the
front-loading Whirlpool® Duet® washer and dryer pair.
Whirlpool's two legal actions follow yet another suit filed by the company
against LG in June 2003 in the same U.S. Federal Court. In that suit,
Whirlpool alleges that the Korean manufacturer used the Whirlpool registered
trademark "Whisper Quiet" on some of its clothes washers and dryers. The
"Whisper Quiet" trademark appears on the console of Whirlpool's KitchenAid
brand clothes washers, dryers and dishwashers.
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Source: Whirlpool
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