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Samsung, LG fail to settle quarrel over washer

February 2, 2015

Screenshot of a video released by Samung (Yonhap).

SEOUL (Yonhap) — Samsung Electronics Co., which had accused its smaller rival, LG Electronics Inc., of vandalizing its washers at German shops last year, has vowed to continue turning to local courts to settle the dispute, industry sources said Monday.

Lawyers defending Samsung and LG met last week under the mediation of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office probing the case, the sources said, where LG delivered a message of “regret” to Samsung.

The world’s top maker of handsets, however, refused to accept the apology, claiming that such messages were not “sincere.”

Officials from both Samsung and LG refused to comment on the details of the messages exchanged by the two due to legal matters.

Samsung has been claiming that LG staff members were spotted breaking the doors of Samsung’s washing machines at the Berlin shops in September, and were reported to the local police by shop clerks.

CCTV footage showed the LG employees pressing down on the doors of the machines until they would not close properly, Samsung claimed.

Following Samsung’s move, LG in December countersued Samsung for defamation and forging evidence, claiming its innocence. Since then, Samsung and LG both have been lashing out at each other through numerous press releases.

In December, prosecutors had raided LG’s Seoul-based office, and obtained emails of up to seven senior executives of LG, including Jo Seong-jin, president of the home appliance division. Jo was also summoned by the prosecutors in the following week.