By Kim Yoo-chul
LG Display, the display-making affiliate of LG Electronics, said Wednesday that it has dropped its injunction against its biggest rival Samsung Display, raising expectations that the two will soon reach a full settlement in the ongoing patent battle.
``LG Display has filed legal papers to the Seoul Central District Court to drop our request of a complete sales ban on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1,’’ said company spokesman Jason Kim, Wednesday.
Weeks ago, Samsung dropped its request for an injunction against LG Display over organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, ordered by the finance ministry amid a rapid emergence of Chinese and Japanese companies in the OLED market.
``Specifically, LG Display filed to the local court to drop three patent infringement cases related to in-plane switching (IPS) display-making technology,’’ the spokesman said.
``Patents are the results of steady innovation and we believe LG’s display-making patents should be valued properly. We expect differences to be narrowed via upcoming working-level discussions over patents,’’ Kim said, adding that a cross-licensing deal is very likely.
The announcement comes after Samsung surprisingly decided to adopt LG’s in-house OLED display-making technology to better compete in that sector.
According to Samsung officials and officials at the firm’s top-tier local suppliers, the company will start manufacturing white-OLED lines, scheduled to go online from late 2013. White OLED technology is currently being used by LG.
``Samsung had no option but to follow LG to produce affordable OLED screens for TVs. Samsung’s red-, green-, and blue-based OLED technology is far too expensive and has many more technological barriers than LG’s white OLED technology. This decision seems smart,’’ said an executive at one of Samsung’s local suppliers.