LG, Samsung execs charged with OLED theft

Researchers at Samsung Electronics and board members at LG Display have been charged over the theft of organic light emitting diode (OLED) display technology, according to local reports.

Information related to the production of larger sized OLED displays was leaked from Samsung in a series of emails. The leak centers around a former researcher who left Samsung and plotted the leak in an attempt to get a job at LG Display.

Six former or current researchers at Samsung and five executives at LG Display have been indicted, an Arirang report said.

Samsung has been a pioneer of OLED displays and uses active matrix OLED (AMOLED) in its mobile phones and televisions. OLED displays emit light rather modulating a backlight. As such the display is bright, shows rich saturated color and is thinner than liquid crystal display (LCD) as it does not need a backlight.

The race is on to apply OLED display technology to larger glass sizes economically to drive LCD out of flat-screen television applications. Sales of OLED televisions are set to go from about 34,000 units in 2012 to more than 2 million units in 2015.


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