Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Samsung Display bolsters IP protection to widen OLED tech gap
Samsung Display's Diamond Pixel structure, left, used for its OLED display is more accurate than traditional square-shaped pixel structure in terms of expressing sharp and fine patterns such as straight and diagonal lines. Courtesy of Samsung Display
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Display is taking measures to protect its intellectual property (IP) particularly related to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies, seeking to widen the gap with its competitors through the steps, the display arm of Samsung Electronics said Sunday.
The company, leader in the global small- and medium-sized display market, emphasized its protective activities are urgently needed at a time when Chinese rivals are accelerating investment in OLED displays.
Due to competitors' improvements in OLED technology, which have been regarded as more advanced than liquid crystal displays (LCD), Samsung Display's top status in the OLED market is also under threat.
The display maker is seeking various ways to protect its technology assets as Chinese makers are increasingly recruiting Korean OLED engineers in attempt to acquire in-house trade secrets.
As part of the efforts, the company invited global media to its private showroom during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January, to introduce its next-generation prototypes such as foldable displays and quantum dot (QD) displays that have not been disclosed previously. The company also allowed journalists to experience its Diamond Pixel technology, which is its unique pixel technology that maximizes visual clarity and readability.
Choi Kwon-young, senior vice president of Samsung Display, said “we pioneered and first began mass producing OLED displays. We have accumulated numerous patents and technical know-how through decades of investment, R&D and mass production,” when asked about how to retain its competence in the OLED market during the fourth quarter earnings announcement in January.
“We are working on in-depth measures from various angles so that intellectual property rights accumulated through our efforts can be properly recognized and compensated.”
A local patent industry expert interpreted the remark made by the Samsung Display executive as meaning “the company tried to show a kind of warning message for Chinese companies' blatant theft of technology.”
“The Korean display industry has painful memories of selling HYDIS. The sale of the local LCD maker to China's BOE in 2002 provided an opportunity for the Chinese display industry to surpass Korean display makers, and eventually, the supremacy of the LCD industry was completely taken by China. Samsung and other Korean companies will respond more actively to China's attempts to copy products and tap into technology leaks,” the expert said.