LG Exec Indicted For Sabotaging Samsung’s Washing Machine At IFA 2014

Both LG and Samsung are competitors and fierce ones at that. Both companies build their own displays, they also build smartphones and tablets powered by Android, they also build consumer electronics such as TVs and monitors, and white goods such as fridges, washing machines and more, just to name a few.

Now we’re not sure how many of you guys might recall, but back in September 2014 during IFA in Berlin, Samsung accused an LG executive of sabotaging one of their washing machines on display at the event. LG denied that accusation but initially agreed to pay for the damage, at least until Samsung decided to sue them citing property damage and defamation.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, LG’s head of Home Appliance and Air Solution company Jo Seong-jin has been indicted on charges that he and two other employees wilfully sabotaged a Samsung washing machine at IFA 2014. LG claimed that what Jo did was part of his job as an engineer and it was merely a test of the machine and not a sabotage.

LG also released a video which shows surveillance footage of Jo and other LG employees inspecting the machine in plain sight of Samsung personnel. It also shows other trade show goers inspecting the machine, and in one instance a kid even sat on the door of the machine. In a statement released by Ham Yoon-keun, the lawyer who will be defending Jo, “It is questionable whether there is sufficient evidence to prove that the president of a global company deliberately destroyed the machines where employees of the competing company were present.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Legal, LG, Samsung