Chinese Display Maker
While Samsung Display filed an OLED panel patent infringement lawsuit against U.S. component makers, BOE, the largest display company in China, is attracting attention as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has decided to launch an investigation of BOE. Samsung Display took this action to target the U.S. smartphone repair market using cheap Chinese panels instead of OLED panels containing Samsung Display’s core patented technology when repairing smartphone displays.
According to industry sources on April 6, BOE will be investigated with regard to Samsung Display’s patent infringement under the ITC’s investigation.
In January, the ITC started to look into the case by accepting Samsung Display’s request to ban 17 US parts wholesalers including Captain Mobile Parts, E-Tech Parts Plus, Gadget Fix, Injured Gadget, and DFW Cell Phone & Parts, from using external display parts and panels, based on Article 337 of the U.S. Customs Act.
Samsung Display has claimed that its proprietary pixel technology, Diamond Pixel, was infringed upon. Its OLED panels for smartphones are mainly used in premium smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.
In the United States, where smartphone panel repair costs are high, the repair industry represented by an aftermarket (secondary market) and a refurbishment market have grown for a long time. The problem is that many of such parts that wholesalers supply to private repair shops are panels with no product information imported from China.
Chinese panel makers such as BOE are known to secretly sell panels that cannot be delivered to mobile phone makers as good products. Such panels can be exported to the United States and used as panels for the iPhone and the Galaxy smartphones when being repaired.
“This Samsung Display lawsuit can be seen as a warning to Chinese companies such as BOE. It aims to protect Samsung Display’s core technologies and enable the Korean display giant to secure and increase future competitiveness,” an industry insider said.