Samsung Display sues China's BOE for OLED patent infringement in US
Samsung Display's Rollable Flex displays, OLED displays that can be rolled and unrolled, are displayed at SID Display Week in Los Angeles, May 23. Courtesy of Samsung Display
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Display filed a lawsuit against Chinese display maker BOE for infringing on its smartphone organic light emitting diodes (OLED) display technologies in the United States, according to industry sources, Sunday.
This is the first time that the display arm of Samsung Electronics filed a lawsuit against BOE. Samsung Display's move is interpreted as a response to the growing influence of the Chinese display maker.
The move also shows the determination that they will take strong measures to protect their technology at a time when Chinese makers are increasing their presence in OLED, the next-generation display for LCD, after gaining market influence by selling large quantities of LCDs at low prices.
The company filed lawsuits with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on June 26, alleging that BOE infringed on its four patented OLED technologies, especially those used in Apple's iPhone 12 smartphone. The patented technologies included Samsung Display's Diamond Pixel technology.
The lawsuit began as Samsung Display was informed that copycat OLED displays made by Chinese companies were used as replacements for original Samsung Display displays for iPhone smartphones at smartphone repair shops in the U.S. Customers could choose between the original Samsung panel and the copycat one, which differed in cost and quality when entrusting them with their iPhone 12 repairs.
Samsung Display filed lawsuits with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) last December against smartphone parts wholesale suppliers in the U.S. claiming that they have supplied phone repair shops with replacement displays for Samsung's Galaxy phones and Apple's iPhones. In the process, BOE was accused of providing these companies with copycat panels.
As a countermeasure, BOE also filed lawsuits against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display's Chinese branch with a Chinese court in May.
Samsung Display has repeatedly said that it takes a hard look at patent infringement and will respond strongly.
“We have accumulated numerous patents and know-how through decades of investment, research and development, and mass production,” Choi Kwon-young, executive vice president of the company told investors during a conference call in January 2022. "In order to protect our differentiated technologies and increase their value, we are actively promoting our hard-to-mimic OLED technology to the market. At the same time, we are taking various in-depth measures to recognize the legitimacy of the intellectual property rights accumulated through the efforts of our employees.”
About a year after the executive's comments, Samsung Display filed a complaint with the USITC against companies using copycat products, which led to the current complaint with the BOE.
The industry view is that Samsung Display's legal response is that it will not cede the OLED market to the Chinese makers, where it has a technological edge.
According to data from the Korea Display Industry Association, Korea has overwhelmingly ranked first in the world for OLED displays for the past 17 years. In 2022, Korea's share of the market was 81.3 percent, a large margin over China's 17.9 percent.
However, when it comes to small and medium-sized OLED displays, China is catching up. In the first quarter of this year, Samsung Display led the small and medium-sized OLED display market with 54.7 percent, but BOE was second with 19.2 percent while LG Display was third with 17.4 percent.