[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] A British quantum dot (QD) company has filed a patent infringement lawsuit related to QD technology, a core material of Samsung Electronics' QLED TVs.
According to industry sources including Samsung Electronics on the 17th, Nanoco, a British QD material company, filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics at the U.S. Eastern District Court of Texas on the 14th of this month. Quantum dots are semiconductor particles at the nanometer scale that can simultaneously improve energy efficiency and image quality.
The defendants named by Nanoco in the lawsuit include Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electronics VD (Visual Display) Division, Samsung Electronics America, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, and Samsung Display.
Samsung had previously collaborated with Nanoco in 2010 on LCD module material technology. Nanoco claims that at that time, it provided Samsung with quantum dot samples and disclosed technology.
Samsung unveiled TVs applying quantum dot technology at CES 2015 and launched QLED TVs in 2017. Nanoco alleges that Samsung infringed on five of Nanoco’s patents during this process and generated sales with QLED TVs manufactured using the infringing technology, thus seeking damages for patent infringement.
A Samsung Electronics official stated, “We will actively respond after reviewing the complaint.”
Previously, Samsung Electronics acquired the intellectual property rights of U.S. QD Vision in 2016. QD Vision subsequently sold its assets and proceeded with dissolution.
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