Samsung Display, China’s BOE settle OLED patent and trade secret lawsuits

Samsung Display and China’s BOE Technology, a supplier of OLED displays utilized successful Apple devices, have agreed to settle a patent suit concerning OLED technology.

“The 2 companies person agreed that just technological contention is indispensable for the advancement of the show industry,” and person truthful decided to retreat each pending lawsuits, a spokesperson astatine Samsung Display confirmed to TechCrunch. “We [also] program to retreat each ongoing ineligible actions arsenic portion of this agreement.”

Samsung Display declined to remark on reports that BOE whitethorn wage patent royalties to the Korean hardware elephantine arsenic portion of the settlement. BOE did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

The colony lays to furniture a drawn out, three-year combat betwixt Samsung’s show part and BOE, some of whom proviso show panels utilized successful Apple’s iPhones. Samsung successful December 2022 filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that BOE had infringed its OLED patents, and past filed different lawsuit in October 2023, accusing the Chinese institution of stealing commercialized secrets by poaching employees to entree confidential OLED manufacturing processes and technologies.

In March 2025, the ITC ruled that BOE had infringed 3 of Samsung Display’s OLED patents. On the commercialized concealed side, successful a preliminary ruling handed down successful July, the ITC recovered that BOE had misappropriated Samsung Display’s OLED commercialized secrets, and recommended banning the Chinese institution from exporting OLED panels to the U.S. for astir 15 years.

Now, the companies appear to person asked the ITC to extremity its investigation. When reached for confirmation, the ITC declined to comment.

The colony comes arsenic large tech companies effort to reduce their reliance connected Chinese manufacturers for components utilized successful their devices. A U.S. export prohibition would person surely been unspeakable quality for BOE, which is 1 of the world’s largest suppliers of LCD and OLED show panels, behind Samsung and LG.

Samsung’s lawsuit underscored increasing interest implicit the theft of intelligence property. In July 2024, a South Korean tribunal sentenced a erstwhile Samsung Display engineer to six years successful situation for leaking OLED exertion worthy astir $24.5 cardinal to China. And past month, South Korean constabulary opened an investigation after 2 LG Display employees were suspected of leaking proprietary show technologies to a Chinese firm.