Samsung, LG reconcile over display suits



Samsung Display and LG Display, the world’s top rival display makers, on Monday said they have dropped all lawsuits against each other in a reconciliatory gesture.

“This agreement will give us a chance to resolve our legal dispute and together move in a more productive direction,” said Kim Gwang-joon, executive vice president of intellectual property at Samsung Display.

LG Display spoke in a similar vein, saying in a statement that the two sides will put aside their differences to look for ways to cooperate as the world’s leading display manufacturers.

“This is a critical moment for both of our companies in terms of pursuing patent competitiveness,” said Song Young-kwon, senior vice president of LG Display’s technology strategy team to further explain the backdrop of the agreement.

He added that the two sides would now resort to dialogue to settle future issues.

Representatives of the two companies have been meeting regularly to produce such results.

In February, the CEOs of the two companies sat down for talks, but failed to reach a consensus despite repeated government urgings.

With the agreement, LG Display and Samsung Display dropped lawsuits involving intellectual property theft and patent infringement regarding technology for developing organic light emitting diodes, a critical component for screen displays.

LG had first filed the lawsuit claiming that Samsung had infringed upon its patents, to which Samsung filed a countersuit until both sides had a string of suits against the other.



By Kim Ji-hyun

(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)