Ireland-based OLED IP company Solas OLED announced that a jury in the US district court in Texas has found Samsung Display and Samsung Electronics liable to Solas for wilfully infringing two fundamental OLED patents (USPTO #7,446,338 and #9,256,311). The jury awarded solas with $62.7 million in damages.

Solas says that these patents are required for AMOLED to function - these patents were used in the OLED displays used in Samsung's Galaxy S and Galaxy Note smartphones.

Japan-based Gatebox (a subsiriary of LINE) announced a new product called the Gatebox Grande, that is a large cylindrical box that enables people to interact with a large 3D character for customer service.

The 2-meters large Gatebox uses a 65-inch 4K WOLED Panel to show the character, in addition to sensors, microphones and speakers. The characters (which seem to be somewhat disturbing to me) are designed by Gatebox and will be used to greet customers, explain about products, etc.

According to a report from Korea, LG Electronics have lowered the price of its new OLED TV models by around 20%, compared to last year prices - in order to stay competitive and increase the demand.

The 2021 65-inch OLED evo G1, for example, is priced at 4.6 million Korean Won ($4,090 USD), which is 17.9% lower than the price of the 2020 65" OLED GX model at launch (5.6 million Won). The rest of the 2021 OLED TV models are offered at similarly lower prices.

Researchers from Dresden's Technical University (TUD) developed a new OLED device structure that combine vertical organic permeable base transistors (OPBT) and OLEDs materials - organic permeable base light-emitting transistor, or OPB-LET.

The new design successfully combines the function of a highly efficient switching transistor and an organic light-emitting diode. The OLED transistors (OLETs) are three-terminal devices combining a thin-film transistor with a light-emitting diode. Unlike previous OLETs, the OPB-LET offer high performance, thanks to the permeable base electrode located at the center of the device. The electrode forms a distinctive optical microcavity and so regulates the charge carrier injection and transport.

China-based OLED maker Visionox has spun-off its PMOLED business, to create a new company called Qingyue. Visionox will now focus on AMOLED production (after having spun-off its OLED lighting unit Yeolight back in 2015).

Qingyue, which is one of the world's leading PMOLED makers, has two 370x400 mm production lines, each with a capacity of 8,000 monthly substrates (around 1.75 million 1 displays).

PPG Industries and Universal Display established a strategic relationship in 2000, and since then PPG is the exclusive producer of UDC's PHOLED emitter materials. The two companies announced that they will establish a new manufacturing site in Shannon, Ireland, for the production of UDC's emitters.

The new facility will double the production capacity of UDC's OLED emitters at PPG, and will also diversify the company's manufacturing base. UDC leased the Ireland site (which, up until now, was producing pharmaceutical intermediates) and will adapt it to PHOLED production. Facility improvements and regulatory approvals are expected to be completed in the next 12 months, and operations are scheduled to commence in early 2022.

Lenovo started shipping the $2,499 foldable ThinkPad X1 Fold laptop, and the first review is in. The ThinkPad X1 Fold is a Windows 10 Pro laptop that features a 13.3" 2048x1536 foldable OLED display (produced by LG Display). The X1 Fold features an Intel Core i5 chipset and a wireless keyboard.

T3 posted a review of this ground breaking device. The verdict in short? Very cool foldable display, it is a clever device - but the performance is not stellar and the display isn't bright enough.

Researchers from the UK's UCL and Italy's IIT developed OLED-based smart temporary tatoos. Similar to children's "sticker" type tatoos, these small devices can be transferred to the skin by being pressed and washed with water.

Such devices could in the future be used to short-term sensors (for example to detect when an athlete is dehydrated during an event) or in fruit packaging to signal when a product has passed its expiry date.

Sumitomo Chemical announced that the company expects demand for polymer OLED materials will increase as large-area OLED displays are entering into the market. Sumitomo hopes that its OLED materials will become the standard for large-area OLED production.

The address this next phase in its OLED business, Sumitomo has decided to integrate its PLED Business Planning office into its IT-related Chemicals Sector, which will enable it to ramp up its OLED materials business through integrated operations with its IT-related Chemicals Sector, which handles display-related materials.