Patents - Page 4

According to a new report from Korea, two SDC researchers were convicted of handing over OLED technology to other companies, and are being sent to prison for two years. Representative and directors of the company that bought the technology was also sent to prison and the company was fined.

The technology in question relates to Optical Adhesive Materials used in OLED production processes. The arrest of these employees was reported in August 2020.

Towards the end of 2020, Ireland-based OLED IP company Solas OLED filed a complaint to the US International Trade Commission against Samsung Electronics and BOE, saying that the two companies infringe upon some of its AMOLED patents.

The US ITC apparently decided to launch a section 337 investigation aginst both BOE and Samsung. Solas OLED requested that the ITC to issue a limited exclusion order and cease orders.

Samsung Display announced that it has employed new materials in its latest OLED stack that enables the display to be 16% more efficient compared to its currently OLEDs. The first phone to adopt the new OLED materials will be the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

SDC did not reveal much about the new materials beyond saying that the new architecture "speeds up electron flows in the display’s organic layers". SDC says it uses a new OLED material, which seems to have been developed in-house (although SDC also says it has been 'closely collaborating with global material companies' to increase its competitive edge). SDC holds over 5,000 OLED material patents.

Samsung Display filed a complaint in the US that JOLED and Asustek infringe upon one of the company's patents, filed in 2017. The patent (USPTO # 9,768,240) details a TFT transistor array, and SDC says that both companies make use of the patent in the ProArt PQ22UC monitor.

In June 2020 JOLED announced that it has filed lawsuits in the US and Germany against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display. JOLED says that Samsung infringed on its OLED patents without a license.

Business Korea reports that Ireland-based OLED IP company Solas OLED recently dropped two lawsuits it filed in the US against Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. According to Solas Samsung Electronics infringed on its patent on OLED panels in its latest smartphone products including the Galaxy Z-Fold 2, and LG Electronics infringed on an OLED TV patent.

Apparently Solas dropped both lawsuits.

Ireland-based OLED IP company Solas OLED announced that it has prevailed in its patent infringement action in Germany against LG Display, LG Electronics and Sony. The Mannheim District Court in Germany held that the defendants had infringed Solas’ German patent DE 102 54 511 B4 concerning a control circuit for light emitting diodes.

This technology, owned by Solas, is used in OLED panels used in LG ans Sony's TVs. According to the court's decision, LG and Sony will have to stop marketing products in Germany that infringe upon Solas' patents and they will have to recall from commercial customers all infringing products. LG and Sony must also must render to Solas a detailed accounting necessary to establish damages owed by the defendants for sales of infringing products in Germany dating back to April, 2009.

A report from Korea updates that three Samsung Display researchers in Suwon were arrested for allegedly leaking OLED technology. Directors of a Chinese company subsidiary were also arrested in this case

According to the report, the technology that was leaked relates to optical alignment of inkjet printing processes. Samsung reportedly invested over 10 billion won ($8.5 million) in developing this technology.

In 2012, we first heard that eMagin is developing direct emission (or direct patterning, as the company calls it) OLED microdisplays. Fast forward into 2020, and the company is aiming to soon start producing such displays (it already launched its first such panel, see more below). In this article we'll look into the technology and the latest updates from eMagin.

All current OLED microdisplays on the market from all producers use a white OLED with color filter. This is a simple design, but it is wasteful in energy, as the filters block around 80% of the light, and in addition to achieve the white color one needs to use a blue OLED emitter (in addition to a yellow one, or red and green ones) - and blue is the least efficient color for OLED emission.

JOLED announced that it has filed lawsuits in the US and Germany against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display. JOLED says that Samsung infringed on its OLED patents without a license.

JOLED (Japan OLED) was established in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic to produce OLED displays using inkjet printing technology. The company has (or applied for) around 4,000 global OLED patents. We do know which patents JOLED refers to in its new law suit.

Merck announced that it has acquired over 700 OLED display applications patent families from Konica Minolta. The acquired IP will be used to "further enhance Merck’s position as key supplier of OLED materials".

Merck did not detail the financial terms of this deal.