Final phase of Japan-Korea 'MSG dispute'... CJ pays settlement money to Ajinomoto

The patent infringement lawsuit between South Korea's CJ Group and Japanese food company Ajinomoto is expected to come to an end soon with an agreement between the two companies. Trade and bio industry-related patent lawsuits have been fought in court for a long time, and it is known that the two companies reached an agreement at an appropriate level without winning or losing, as it will be a battle of attrition.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 26th, Ajinomoto filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the CJ Group in the United States, Japan, and Germany in 2016, and the CJ Group decided to pay the settlement money. It was reported that steps were being taken.

Prior to this, in 2016, Ajinomoto announced that three affiliated companies of the CJ Group, including CJ CheilJedang Manufacturing Co., Ltd., had developed the main ingredient of umami seasonings, L-monosodium glutamate (MSG), and feed-use ARMY noic acid, tryptophan. claimed to have infringed a patent related to the manufacture of According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, agreements were reached in three of these cases in March, May, and November of last year, respectively, and recently, all of the remaining cases have been agreed, and the lawsuit will be closed by paying the settlement money.

Although the total amount of the settlement money was not disclosed due to the agreement between the two companies, it is estimated that CJ Group will pay Ajinomoto a total of 4 billion yen in settlement money for all four cases. In relation to this, an official at CJ CheilJedang said, "There is no doubt that the two companies have recently reached an agreement."