BLU's LTE Devices Violate LG Patents, Says Motion to File Complaint Under Seal

Mobile phone supplier BLU Products sells LTE devices in the U.S. and around the world that violate LG Electronics patents, LG alleged Monday in a motion (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, for permission to file a complaint under seal. LG for about a year has “repeatedly contacted” BLU to offer to license the phone supplier its “portfolio of standards-essential patents” on “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms,” said the motion. Portions of the complaint refer to confidential letters and a nondisclosure agreement LG sent BLU that are “not available through a public source,” said the motion. LG “would be harmed if this information became widely known,” it said. The squabble involves five patents "that have been declared as essential to the LTE standard," LG said in a Monday statement announcing the filing of an identical complaint against BLU at the International Trade Commission. "These are the first complaints LG has filed against another phone manufacturer," the company said. They were filed "because BLU, the largest seller of unlocked smartphones in the United States, has ignored all of LG's attempts to discuss a license to LG's intellectual property," it said. "LG is determined to enforce its intellectual property rights." BLU representatives didn’t comment Monday.