Samsung is no stranger to lengthy legal battles, and its display division in its home country has now scored a major victory. The Supreme Court acquitted her of the charge that she had stolen OLED technology from her local rival, LG Display. The legal dispute between Samsung Display and LG Display lasted for seven years. The latter claimed that Samsung's display division stole its OLED technology. However, South Korea's Supreme Court has now upheld an appeals court ruling that found the division innocent.
The lawsuit was filed against the CEO of supplier LG Display and four employees of Samsung Display. A senior executive was suspected of leaking its OLED Face Seal technology to Samsung division employees through confidential documents. The "leak" should have happened already in 2010, three or four times. OLED Face Seal is a sealing and bonding technology developed by LG Display that improves the life of OLED panels by preventing the OLED element from coming into contact with air. LG Display cited Korea's trade secret and unfair competition laws in the lawsuit.
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During the trial, the focus was on whether the leaked documents were indeed trade secrets. In the initial trial, they were considered trade secrets, which is why the head of LG Display's supplier and four Samsung Display employees were sentenced to prison terms. However, they were all acquitted at the appeals court. The court found that the leaked documents contained informace, which were already known in the industry from research works.
The court also pointed out that the technology developed by LG Display was "commingled" with the supplier, making it difficult to properly distinguish between the two. As for the Samsung Display employees, it was not clear that they attempted to obtain confidential information, according to the court informace Purposely. Samsung Display and LG Display have yet to comment on the matter, but it's clear that this is a big win for Samsung over one of its biggest local rivals.
