While businesses want to give as much publicity as possible to their products, they often want to keep how those products are created a secret. There’s good reason for this, too. When the process by which a popular secret becomes known to others, similar products can be made, perhaps for cheaper, thereby leading to significant market competition. Therefore, businesses oftentimes put a lot of effort into protecting their trade secrets, which sometimes leads to trade secret litigation.
One case may be heading that direction. Recently, LG Chem, a maker of batteries for electric vehicles, filed a legal claim with the U.S. International Trade Commission against South Korean competitor SK Innovation.
According to reports, SK Innovation stole LG Chem’s trade secrets after it hired former LG Chem employees and utilized their knowledge in the production of its own batteries. Samples of SK’s lithium-ion batteries have been shipped to the U.S. with full production expected to start in 2022, but LG Chem has asked that those shipments be stopped.
Of course, SK claims that the matter will be addressed in court, and it will likely challenge the allegations. It is yet to be seen how the claim will affect either company’s bottom line or reputation amongst consumers. However, given the amount of time, energy, and money that is devoted to developing the intellectual property necessary to create valuable trade secrets, both sides will probably be willing to invest considerable resources in to this case.
Trade secret litigation can be incredibly complex, which is why it is usually imperative that those who are dealing with these matters seek the help of an experienced and skilled legal professional. A skilled attorney may be able to help a party develop the strong legal arguments that are necessary to reach a favorable resolution.