LG Electronics is being sued by Sony, which is seeking to block its rival from importing handsets into the US.
Sony has complained to the US International Trade Commission that LG has violated US trade rules by selling certain phones and modems that allegedly infringe on Sony's patents.
Sony's complaint follows another lawsuit, brought against LG by Taiwanese research organization ITRI, alleging infringement on 22 patents in consumer electronics products.
However, most of LG's focus is on reviving its mobile fortunes at the high end, and it has leaped early onto the smart home trend. This brings together home media networks, domestic appliances like fridges, smart meters and handsets, with carriers seeing a way to increase their control over their subscribers by adding all these products to their networks alongside phones.
To meet this need, LG will go public at the CES show this week with its Thinq line of wireless enabled appliances. This will encompass white goods, smart meters and other products.
It brings together several areas of LG's manufacturing business, putting wireless data and web into products from its television and media unit, and from its activities in refrigerators and washing machines.
Robotic vacuum cleaners, ovens and smart meters are also included and all will be controllable from a single device, probably a tablet or even a smartphone.
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