Solas OLED files patent lawsuit against Samsung

Solas OLED, an Irish company that licenses patented organic light-emitting diode technologies, has filed an infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics GmbH with the Düsseldorf District Court in Germany.

The Solas patent portfolio covers all critical areas of OLED structures, display design and architecture, and driver circuitry.

Certain Solas inventions are used prolifically by Samsung in various devices, such as the screens in tablets, phones, and watches.

Solas also has cases pending against Samsung before the International Trade Commission, seeking to address Samsung’s import into the US of patent-infringing devices.

These cases will come up before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and are scheduled for trial beginning 1 March.

Research

General counsel Aoife Butler commented: “We take the research of inventors very seriously; and, enforcing our patent rights is the only way to acknowledge and protect the time and effort inventors devote to their craft to develop new technologies that benefit and enhance all our lives.

“Filing a lawsuit is never an easy decision; however, Samsung continues to market OLED products, including tablets, watches, and phones that infringe Solas’ patents; and, as a result, Solas has no choice but to stand up for its rights.

“Samsung does not permit others to use its patent rights without paying for them, and it is safe to assume Samsung would not permit consumers to take its phones and watches without paying for them, so it defies logic that Samsung thinks it acceptable to misappropriate the patent rights of others,” she said.

Portfolio

LG Display Co. recently licensed Solas’ patent portfolio, allowing it to legally use Solas’ technology in its TVs, phones, tablets, and watches.

Butler said that Samsung should either do the same, or refrain from using Solas’ technology in its products.