South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. has filed a lawsuit against BLU alleging the U.S. smartphone maker has infringed its patents on the long-term evolution (LTE) technology, its first patent infringement suit on smartphone-related technologies.

LG Electronics said that it on Tuesday (local time) filed the damages suit against BLU to the district court of Delaware for infringing its five standard patents on LTE technology. It has also sent a request to the International Trade Commission (ITC) to suspend sales of BLU smartphones in the U.S.

BLU is the sixth largest smartphone maker in the U.S. that sold 5.2 million units last year.

LG Electronics has sent four notices warning BLU’s infringement of its patents, but the U.S. firm did not respond, the South Korean company said, adding that this lawsuit aims to stop unlicensed use of its proprietary technology and enforce its intellectual property rights.

This marks the first patent complaint made against a smartphone maker by the Korean tech company. The final ruling is expected to be delivered in the second half of this year.

LG Electronics is a global leader in LTE technology with the largest number of LTE standard essential patents registered in the U.S., according to TechIPm, an intellectual property and technology research and consulting company.

By Lee Dong-in

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