LS Cable & System won the second round of a legal dispute with Taihan Cable, according to a ruling on Thursday by the Intellectual Property High Court.

The court ordered Taihan Cable to pay 1.5 billion won ($1.03 million) in compensation to LS Cable & System, ruling that it had partially infringed on LS Cable & System's patent for a joint kit used in bus ducts. A lower court ruled in 2022 that Taihan Cable should pay 490 million won to LS Cable & System -- about 12 percent of the amount LS had initially sought.

“We respect the court’s ruling and believe that it is an important decision that acknowledged LS Cable & System’s technology and rights,” said an official at LS Cable & System.

“To protect core technologies developed through decades of our employees' effort and dedication, LS Cable & System will deal with technology theft and infringements in a stern and strict manner.”

The legal dispute between Korea’s two largest cable manufacturers began when LS Cable & System filed a lawsuit against Taihan Cable in 2019, alleging that the latter had infringed on its patented technologies by manufacturing joint kit products for bus ducts, which are prefabricated electrical conduits that distribute electricity to power cables.

Taihan Cable argued that it had been using the joint kit products for years, noting that there were earlier patents in the US and Japan and that LS Cable & System amended them, so its actions should not be seen as patent infringement.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)