Late last week Samsung and LG clashed in the Seoul District Court
over claims that a senior LG executive vandalism one of their washing machines
during a visit to IFA in Berlin last year.

In February 2015 LG released a video in defence of Jo
Seong-jin, the head of LG’s home appliance division who was indicted by
prosecutors in Seoul for allegedly damaging the Samsung washing machines before
the IFA show.

LG claimed Jo meant no harm but it was his regular practice
to test the rival company’s machines, something he has done while working for
LG for the past 38 years.

The executive and two other employees had been charged with
vandalism, defamation and obstruction of business, a spokeswoman for LG said at
the time.

Samsung first sued the LG executives last September for
allegedly damaging the door hinges of three “Crystal Blue” washing machines
displayed at two separate retail stores in Berlin before the trade show.

LG countersued Samsung claiming that the damage was due to
the poor quality of the rival’s products and accused Samsung of fabricating and
hiding the evidence.

 In December,
prosecutors raided LG’s headquarters in Seoul as part of a probe, and called in
the company executives including Jo for further investigation.

According to the Korean Times, Samsung had filed new
complaints with the prosecution office against LG executives arguing that they
obstructed business operations by damaging Samsung washing machines in a Berlin
shopping mall.

“The doors of the front-door washing machines are big and
heavy, so they can naturally tilt downward to some extent and swing a little
bit, which can be easily found in other washing machines,” a legal
representative for LG appealed.

The attorney also raised suspicions about the authenticity
of the damaged washing machines presented to the court as evidence, arguing
that the products seemed to have had more scratches than before, and that they
could not be the results of Cho touching the washers.

Arguing innocence of CEO Cho, LG re showed video footage of
a 3D animation related to the case in the first trial.

Prosecutors were not having a bar of LG’s defence claiming
that LG executives damaged Samsung washing machines at the Saturn Berlin
Europa-Centre and Saturn Berlin Steglitz in Germany.

The court will hold a session to examine evidence on July 21
and an examination of witnesses in August, for which the prosecutor’s office
has airlifted seven of the washing machines from the case in Germany.

Meanwhile, in line with their agreement in March to drop all
ongoing lawsuits between the two sides, they recently decided to put an end to
the legal battle over the vandalism case.

The prosecutor’s office, however, pushed ahead with the
trial after LG demanded the transfer of the case from the Seoul Central
District Court to a local district court in Changwon City, South Gyeongsang
Province.