Whirlpool’s steam claims are hot air, says LG
Whirlpool Corporation, the world’s largest appliance maker, was accused of false advertising for claiming its Duet Steam clothes dryers use real steam to clean and dry apparel, in a lawsuit by a unit of LG Electronics Incorporated.The case revolves around the definition of steam. Whirlpool dryers use a cold water mist, not steam, injected into the machine for 60 seconds, then heated by the dryer’s rotating drum, lawyers for LG Electronics USA claim in a complaint filed in Chicago federal court on Friday. LG says its dryers inject water heated to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point, while water in Whirlpool dryers never gets that hot.
“LG USA believes that it will lose sales of its Tromm Steam Dryer as a direct result of the explicitly false claims made by Whirlpool in naming and advertising its product,” according to the complaint, which says both dryers were introduced in late 2007.
In a separate dispute involving Whirlpool, LG and Samsung Group over testing of refrigerators for energy efficiency, the governments of the U.S. and Korea in November agreed to work toward resolving the matter. Whirlpool claimed Korean testing standards gave its domestic manufacturers an unfair advantage.
Bloomberg
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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