LG planning to use mobile patents for profit
Company still holds 4G and 5G patents after smartphone exit last year
LG Electronics was planning to license out its patents related to smartphone and mobile technologies, TheElec has learned.
The company has been reviewing various ways to use these patents since it exited the smartphone business last year.
LG Electronics holds some 20,000 patents related 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi and other mobile technologies, which is costing it 20 billion won per year to maintain, sources said.
Last month, the company announced that it plans to start patent licensing operations.
According to the sources, LG Electronics, besides licensing its patents on its own, could form a spin-off company that it could transfer some of these patents to, in case of patent lawsuits.
It is also considering selling its patents to other non-practicing entities, which will however entail providing compensation to employees who invented the patents, they said.
Meanwhile, LG Electronics had also said last year in April that it plans to use its mobile patents to develop its own smart appliances and IoT devices.
The patents will also contribute to technology development of its vehicle component solution business, the South Korean tech giant had said.
Prior to exiting the smartphone business, many companies had shown interest in purchasing related patents from LG Electronics, including Germany’s Volkswagen and other conglomerates.