[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics said on July 11 that it has filed a complaint against European smartphone maker Wiko for breaching its LTE patents.

The company filed a lawsuit with the Mannaheim district court in Germany on July 9. The legal action comes after the Korean firm sued US smartphone maker BLU for violating its telecommunications patents in March last year.

LG claimed in the suit that Wiko, which sold more than 10 million smartphone units in the European region, infringed a total of three patents, including those regarding methods to utilize mobile signals in cellular dead zones in an effective manner, and technology on how to aggregate mobile signals and send them to certain network stations.

“LG will take firm action against the use of its patented technologies by other companies without paying due royalties,” said Jeong Saeng-gyu, head of the tech giant’s patent center.

The Korean company has warned the European company of the inappropriate use of the patents several times since 2015 while requesting a license agreement, but Wiko declined to come to the table for negotiations, according to LG.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)