Global Web Site www.lge.com
For Immediate Release
LG Electronics and General Electric
Announce Licensing Agreement
Patent cross-license agreement covers refrigerators and cooking appliances
Seoul, Korea, February 27, 2008 – LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology
innovator in consumer electronics, today announced that it has entered into a cross licensing
agreement with GE Consumer & Industrial, an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and
integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. This new agreement will allow LG and GE
to use one another’s patents for refrigerators and cooking appliances without paying licensing
fees.
“We believe that this licensing arrangement with GE will enhance our ability to deliver winning
products and move us further toward our goal of becoming one of the top global brands in
consumer electronics and home appliances,” said Young Ha Lee, President and CEO of LG
Electronics Digital Appliance Company. “Our long history of working together with GE will help
us take advantage of this agreement even more quickly.
“This agreement is part of a win-win strategy for both GE and LG,” said Lynn S. Pendergrass,
President and CEO, GE Consumer & Industrial - Americas. “We expect the synergies resulting
from the strong relationship between our two companies will contribute substantially to the
success of both GE and LG.”
The companies marked this new cross license agreement with a ceremony held today at LG’s
R&D Campus in the Gasan area of Seoul, Korea. Executives from both companies attended the
ceremony. They included Young Ha Lee, President and CEO of LG Electronics Digital Appliance
Company and Lynn S. Pendergrass, President and CEO, GE Consumer & Industrial - Americas.
LG and GE have collaborated on cooking appliances since 1999, both in technologies and product
development. This new agreement will help the companies strengthen their competitiveness
worldwide. This agreement will be especially helpful to LG, in its push to expand its presence in
digital appliances globally. The company currently sells its products through all three of the top
retailers in North America: The Home Depot, Sears and Best Buy.
LG has previously entered into key partnerships with other top companies to build its technology
and customer base. In 2000 the company partnered with Matsushita’s air conditioning division
and in 2001 LG allied itself with both Microsoft and Intel in the home networking sector.
GE Consumer & Industrial, a $13 billion business, uses innovative technologies and
“ecomagination,” a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that help
customers and consumers meet pressing environmental challenges, to deliver comfort,
convenience and electrical protection and control.
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Global Web Site www.lge.com
About LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics,
home appliances and mobile communications, employing more than 82,000 people working in over 110
operations including 81 subsidiaries around the world. With 2007 global sales of USD 44 billion, LG is
comprised of four business units - Mobile Communications, Digital Appliance, Digital Display and Digital
Media. LG is the world’s leading producer of mobile handsets, flat panel TVs, air conditioners, frontloading washing machines, optical storage products, DVD players and home theater systems. For more
information, please visit www.lge.com.
About General Electric Company
GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and
integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and
residential use in more than 100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies and
“ecomagination,” a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that help customers
and consumers meet pressing environmental challenges, to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical
protection and control. General Electric (NYSE: GE) brings imagination to work, selling products under
the Monogram®, Profile™, GE®, Hotpoint®, SmartWater™, Reveal®, GE Edison™, and EnergySmart™
consumer brands, and Entellisys™ industrial brand. For more information, consumers may visit
www.ge.com.
CONTACTS:
LG Electronics:
-USA: John I. Taylor, 847-941-8181, jtaylor@lge.com
Nathan Friedman, 312-397-6009, nathan.friedman@ogilvypr.com
-Outside USA: Sally S.Y. Lee, +822 3777 6483, lgpr@lge.com
GE Consumer & Industrial:
Kim Freeman, 502-452-7819, kim_freeman@ge.com