by REERA YOO
Samsung has accused its rival LG Electronics of intentionally vandalizing its washing machines at retail stores in Germany and has requested Seoul prosecutors to investigate, reported Yonhap.
In a statement Sunday, Samsung said the vandalism took place ahead of the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show held in Berlin. The company claimed that several LG Electronics employees and Jo Sung-jin, head of LG Electronics’ home appliance division, deliberately damaged four premium Samsung washing machines, which retail for about $2,700 each.
The German police had questioned the LG officials following the incident, according to Yonhap.
“It is very unfortunate that Samsung had to request that a high-ranking executive be investigated by the nation’s legal authorities, but this was inevitable, as we concluded that we had to get to the bottom of this incident,” Samsung said.
LG denied Samsung’s accusations and said its employees were examining their rivals’ goods when they accidentally damaged the doors of two washing machines due to the model’s weak hinges.
“It’s common sense that if the intent was to damage a product of a particular company to taint the brand’s image, company executives wouldn’t have needed to get involved in such conduct,” LG said in a statement. “We hope this is not an attempt to damage our reputation.”
LG added that its employees had offered to pay for four damaged Samsung machines at one store, although they were only responsible for damaging two of the products, according to Reuters.
This is not the first time the two tech arch-rivals have clashed as previous battles include conflicts over refrigerator capacity, claims over air conditioner market share and patent rights for display products.
