According to recent news reports from Yonhaps News states that Samsung Display has dropped an injunction aimed to block LG Display from using its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, raising hopes the two rivals are moving to settle their display technology dispute.

However, there has been no official statement from Samsung Display on the issue. What is known is that the Korean Government has been keen to see a resolution of the litigation as they believe it to be detrimental for the Korean display industry.

It will be interesting to see how LG Display responds by dropping their lawsuit against Samsung. Both LG and Samsung are planning to launch large area OLED TVs, and it is therefore in both company's interest to have a resolution soon rather then go through a protracted legal battle.

There are also rumours that Samusng and LG will put aside their dispute over OLED and cooperate to refine their OLED technologies with a view to strengthen both their positions in the global displays industry.

www.lgdisplay.com    www.samsung.com    english.yonhapnews.co.kr  

The aim of the €14.7 million So-Light was to combine as many of the materials and component related results into design studies and prototypes in order to strengthen Germany’s leading role in the growing OLED-market. So-Light was supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) over a three and a half year period and addressed the complete value chain, from primary OLED materials through to OLED-lighting applications. Several of the promising innovations created within the project will now be brought to market by the participants of the So-Light project.

Figure: Hella car rear-light based on 16 red OLEDs

The project partners Novaled, Sensient, University Muenster, Fraunhofer-COMEDD, Aixtron, Ledon OLED Lighting, Fresnel Optics, Hella, Siteco, BMG MIS and the University of Paderborn/L-LAB cooperated in a variety of OLED technology areas.

According to a report in the Korea Herald Samsung Display and LG Display have agreed this week to find a resolution and to settle their escalating OLED patent wars.

The two companies starting their patent war as a way to slow their compteitor as they both raced to dominate the emerging OLED display industry. They are engaged in four separate litigations over display technology patents.

However, many Korean Government officials and industry pundits believe that if the two companies do not find a solution it may seriously harm Korea's competitive position and allow other countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Chian to steal marketshare from the Korean display giants.

Kim Ki-nam, CEO Samsung Display, is reported to have said, "the company plans to resolve the issue one by one."

Han Sang-beom, CEO LG Display, is reported to have said, "there will be talks between executives of the two companies, suggesting details will be adjusted through working-level talks."

www.lgdisplay.com    www.samsung.com    www.koreaherald.com 

Flex-o-Fab project will create a pilot-scale manufacturing chain for flexible OLEDs, and use it to develop reliable fabrication / production processes. Funded through the EU’s 7th Framework Programme, the project aims to strengthen Europe’s leading position in the lighting industry by making flexible OLEDs a commercial reality.

The Flex-o-Fab project will run for 36 months beginning October 1, 2012 and aims to take flexible OLEDs from lab to fab by developing reliable processes for manufacturing OLEDs on plastic foils. To do this, the project will set up a modular yet integrated pilot production line and associated manufacturing chain.

Fluxim has announced the launch of paios their latest measurement system for the characterisation of organic devices. The platform for all-in-one characterisation of solar cells is capable of measuring a large variety of dynamic opto-electronic experiments and is dedicated to extract material and device parameters.

Fluxim has been developing a comprehensive opto-electronic simulation software called setfos which is used in industry and academia worldwide for characterising and optimising organic solar cells and OLEDs.

Figure: Paios measurement system for the characterisation of organic devices

Global OLED Technology has announced that at the end of 2012 the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office held that two of their patents were maintained as amended following oppositions by Merck KGaA of Germany. Particularly, the Office held that Merck's arguments did not prejudice the maintenance of the patents as amended.

The two patent covered technologies that enable high efficiency and long lifetime in OLEDs for both display and lighting applications.

• EP1730249 - this patent teaches the use of certain anthracenes as non-emitting hosts in the light-emitting layers of OLED devices.
• EP1828342 - this patent teaches the use of hole-transporting material adjacent to the phosphorescent light emitting layer.

According to a report by Korean Times the Korean Government is expected to take steps to negotiate a settlement between Samsung Display and LG Display over their ongoing patent dispute.

Samsung Display and LG Display have been involved in an ugly fight over patents related to both LCDs and OLED technologies, as the two companies fight for dominance of the global display market.

Samsung has argued in court that LG’s patents in these areas should be delisted. LG countered by seeking a sales ban on Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets, which it claims depend on the infringed LG patents.

LG Display claims that Samsung infringed on its in-house technology with its OLED screen for the new Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, which was produced by Samsung Display.

Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP) announces the commissioning and opening of a new manufacturing pilot line for organic semiconductor technologies. This enables organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photovoltaic (OPV) can now be developed at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm on a near-industrial scale. The new pilot line was designed and implemented by Fraunhofer IAP in cooperation with the plant manufacturer MBraun. The plant was officially opened during a two day trade event at the instituition.

Figure: Fraunhofer IAP’s pilot line for solution-based processes is located in a cleanroom and measures a lenght of 15 meters

Panasonic Corp has announced they have developed a 56-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel with 4k2k resolution (3,840 x 2,160 resolution, 8.29 million pixels) and the world's largest OLED panel produced through the "RGB all-printing method." ¹ These prototype panels were exhibited at the recently held 2013 International CES in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Figure: The new panel is the world's largest OLED panel produced by the RGB all-printing method

Sony Corp. (Sony) has announced that the company has developed the "world's first" first 4K (3840 x 2160) OLED (organic light-emitting diode) televisions. Sony demonstrated the 56-inch prototype at the recent held International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The OLED panel used in this prototype 4K OLED TV on display at the exhibition was jointly developed with AU Optronics Corp (AUO).

The world's first and largest^* 56-inch OLED TV achieves 4K resolution by using the latest oxide semiconductor TFTs and Sony's own 'Super Top Emission' technologies.

Figure: 56-inch 4K OLED TV prototype - (photo for illustrative purposes only)