The U.S. ITC investigates ‘Samsung vs JOLED’ Korea-Japan OLED patent match

The full view of Samsung Display in Asan [Photo provided = Samsung Display]

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) investigates the lawsuit case that Samsung Display sued Japanese JOLED for patent infringement of their Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) patent.

There is a possibility that JOLED may not be able to export OLED panels to the U.S. if the investigation from ITC confirms there was actual patent infringement. However the possibility of ‘Cross license’ contract as settlement raised due to both companies have been involved in multiple lawsuits since last year.

According to the industries on the 24th the U.S. ITC held the meeting on the 22nd (Local time) and announced that they are going to investigate the patent infringement case (337-TA-1257) that Samsung Display filed on charges of violation of Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act.

Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act is a regulation for unfair trade activities caused by infringement of patents and trademarks in product import and sales in local markets. Traditionally ITC decides whether to initiate an investigation after reviewing for about one month since receiving a lawsuit for violating Section 337 of the Customs Law.

Before this Samsung Display sued Japanese JOLED to the ITC for infringement of technology patent on the 19th of last month. Also Taiwanese ASUS that produced monitors with the OLED panels supplied by JOLED joined the list of defendants.
According to the lawsuit files from Samsung Display they claim 3 cases related to ‘Certain Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays Components Thereof and Products Containing Same’ (Register No. 6845016 / 7342177 / 7230593) have been violated. Especially Samsung Display call on ITC to immediately order prohibition of sale and import if the patent infringement is unfolded after the investigation.

Samsung Display and JOLED the representatives of display companies in Korea and Japan have started patent trouble since last year. JOLED filed a lawsuit in the U.S. and Germany last June that their technology patent has been violated by Samsung Display.

As we can tell from their name JOLED is an OLED display company representing Japan. It was established by a public-private partnership fund led by Japanese government Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) Japan Display Inc. (JDI) Sony and Panasonic in January 2015. In 2016 JDI took over the share from INCJ and incorporated it into their subsidiary company.

Due to the unexpected lawsuit from JOLED Samsung Display had been scratched their head over response strategies. And finally in 2021 they determined their strategy to refute the lawsuit with ‘Counter-suit’.
Thus Samsung Display and their patent management specialized subsidiary company Intellectual Keystone Technology (IKT) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against JOLED to Western District Court of Texas last January. JOLED’s strife against Samsung is interpreted as a purpose of securing their initiative which is taken by Korea in OLED market that has great growth possibility.

According to Korea Display Industry Association global OLED market is expected to grow to 60.8% which is 47.6 billion dollars compared to the last year of 29.6 billion dollars. This is contrasting expectation in Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) market that decreases 0.5% from 92.5 billion dollars to 92 billion dollars.

In addition Japan’s presence is insignificant in OLED market when looking at its share by country. According to the data from Korea Display Industry Association Korean companies’ market share in global display market is 85.8% in 2020 basis which is overwhelming level.

Whereas it is confirmed that Japan’s share is 0.4% which is smaller than Taiwan’s 0.5%. By company Samsung Display is ranked the first with the share of 72.7% in small and medium sized OLED panels and LG Display took the lead with the share of 86.3% in large sized panels.

One of officials in the industry said “It is very suspicious about their intention that they sued Samsung right after JOLED drew the investment from Chinese TCL” and “Considerable attention has been given if both of them can lead cross license contract through settlement.”

The logo of Japanese display company JOLED

OLED market share based on the price by nationality [Photo provided = Korea Display Industry Association]

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