Seoul, Korea - LG Electronics won the patent lawsuit against Multimedia Patent Trust (MPT), a well-known Patent Troll. Southern District Court of California ruled on the 5th (local time) that LG did not infringe the patent right of MPT. In its final decision, the court confirmed the jurors’ December 2012 verdict as it was. MPT is a subsidiary of a French telecommunication company, Alcatel Lucent

SEOUL, KOREA - Nongshim, Korea’s major instant noodle maker, is making forays into Europe. The company announced on February 7 that it has signed a string of instant noodle sales deals with Morrisons, one of the UK's four major retailers, Migros, the largest retailer in Switzerland, and Grab and Fly, an airport chain store in the Netherlands. Nongshim also closed a sports marketing deal in E

GYEONGGI, KOREA – “SMEs are the mainstay of the country’s economy and industry. GSBC will nurture small but strong companies based on selection and concentration strategies,” said Hong Ki-hwa, the president of Gyeonggi Small & Medium Business Center (GSBC).Economic democratization, a buzzword from the incoming Korean incoming government, comes down to a mutual partnership and growth between larg

SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Electronics plans to invest US$1.1 billion in Silicon Valley, the home turf of global IT brands such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. The company said on February 4 that it will explore new business models through an investment in northern California.Samsung Electronics held a press conference at a hotel on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California on February 4 where it revea

SEOUL, KOREA - Despite a decline in the domestic sales of Korean-made cars, resulting from the termination of the limited-time excise tax exemption, the sales of import cars have continued an upward trend.According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), the number of import cars newly registered in January 2013 totaled 12,345 units, up 30.8 percent from a year ago.

SEOUL, KOREA - Italy's best-known brand Fiat has landed in Korea on February 5. Chrysler Korea CEO Pablo Rosso said at the launching ceremony for the Fiat brand, "Fiat is a car built for those addicted to life." "With its unique design, the world's best safety, and ergonomics, Fiat allows its users to enjoy every moment of their life," he added.   Chrysler Korea launched on the day three

SEOUL, KOREA - The G6 Alliance to which Hyundai Merchant Marine belongs said it would expand its service to the Asia-North America east coast route beginning this May. The G6 Alliance is the world's largest shipping alliance with APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, MOL, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and Orient Overseas Container Line.Following the grand alliance for the Asia-Europe route last ye

SEOUL, KOREA - STX Construction said on February 5 that is has won a US$35-million project to build a CEPSA phenol/acetone plant in Shanghai. The commissioning entity CEPSA is a leading Spanish petrochemical company.Earlier last year, STX Construction had won a $28-million order from the same company for civil engineering and steel-frame structures. The CEPSA phenol/acetone plant project i

SEOUL, KOREA - Coffee Expo Seoul 2013 is to attract an estimated fifty thousand domestic and international buyers and exhibitors, alongside 500 coffee and tea-themed exhibition booths, when it opens its doors at Coex from April 11-14 2013. The trade show will act as platform for coffee businesses, buyers and enthusiasts as they gather in what is arguably becoming the coffee-drinking capital of the

SEOUL, KOREA - LS Cable & System (President & CEO: Ja-Eun Koo) enters European submarine cable market as the first in Korea’s cable industry. LS Cable & System announced on the 5th the supply of 150kV level submarine cables, 150kV&275kV extra high-voltage underground cable and connection materials to a scale of 16 million Euros (approx. KRW 23 billion) to Dong Energy, a Danish state enterprise and

SEOUL, KOREA - Caffe Bene, a Korean specialty coffee shop chain, announced on February 4 that its first overseas store in New York’s Time Square broke the 1-million mark in cumulative number of visitors. It took about a year for the Time Square location to reach the milestone.According to Caffe Bene’s in-house statistics, the Time Square store has attracted 2,700 visitors per day. The coffee franc

SEOUL, KOREA - SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced its earnings on a K-IFRS consolidated basis for year 2012: revenue of KRW 16.301 trillion, operating income of KRW 1.760 trillion and net income of KRW 1.116 triillion.Despite expanded revenue-decreasing factors like mobile rate cuts and diversified competitive landscape, the revenue increased by 2.3% year-on-year (YoY) backed by its strengthened le

SEOUL, KOREA - Paldo, a Korean instant noodle maker, announced on January 31 that it achieved exports of 55 billion won last year. This figure is equivalent to 15 percent of its total sales. Paldo marked a year-on-year growth of 21.5 percent in 2012 and 27.7 percent in 2011.Key factors behind the increase in Paldo’s exports included the exploration of new markets and new dealers overseas. To expan

SEOUL, KOREA - Caffe Bene, a Korean specialty coffee shop chain, has acquired a bakery brand Mainz Dom. The two parties signed an agreement for Caffe Bene to acquire Mainz Dom’s retail outlets and production facilities in December 2012 and completed the deal in mid-January this year. The acquisition price is estimated at 3 billion won.Caffe Bene had shown interest in the acquisition of Crown Baker

SEOUL, KOREA - The announcement to select preferred negotiating partners for Thailand's water resources management project worth US$11 billion has been delayed, causing suspicions of irregularity. Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-Water) had formed a consortium to participate in the bidding based on its capability in the Four Rivers Project at home. According to the Bangkok Post on January 30, th

SEOUL, KOREA - Korea’s petrochemical companies are hit hard by cheap imports of U.S.-made polyvinyl chloride products (PVCs) made of shale gas. U.S. chemical companies are producing PVCs using ethane extracted from shale gas and selling them in China, a major market for Korea’s petrochemical producers.Amid the economic slump and the onslaught of cheap U.S.-made PVCs, an alarm bell is ringing for K

SEOUL, KOREA - Fine Digital, a specialist in telematics and wireless LAN, announced on January 30 that it has released a high image quality black box “Fine Vu Pro Full-HD.” The brand-new model offers full HD image quality by using the Exmar CMOS sensor and the image quality tuning technologies of Sony.High resolution can be attained in various modes, including 1920*1080p, 1280*720, and 960*540 qua

SEOUL, KOREA - Toyota announced on January 29 that it has sold 9.74 million cars worldwide last year, up 22.6 percent from a year ago. This figure consists of domestic sales of 2.41 million and overseas sales of 7.33 million, including the sales of Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors cars.Toyota, accordingly, overtook GM of the United States, regaining the No. 1 spot in global car sales. GM sold 9.29 m

Citroen DS5, a vehicle model selected by Francois Hollande for his inauguration as President of the French Republic, made its debut in Korea. Halbul Motors released a crossover sedan Citroen DS5 on January 29. The Citroen DS5 is a flagship model in DS series and the third released in Korea after DS3 and DS4. A Halbul Motors official said, “French President Francois Hollande is known to have

SEOUL, KOREA - “E-Mart index,” an indicator of the current trend of consumer sentiment, remained below 100 in the every quarter of 2012. E-Mart announced on January 29 that its E-Mart index, created by comparing quarterly consumption trends of 476 items with those of the previous quarter, stood at 98.1 in the fourth quarter of last year.Even during the previous quarters from January to September 2