BOE Initiates Legal Battles Against Samsung Over Allegedly Stealing Patents
For patent infringement, BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics) is purportedly going after Samsung and Samsung affiliates in China. This development follows an examination into allegations of patent infringement by BOE against Samsung Display launched by the US ITC (International Trade Commission) about a month ago.
The Beijing-based company BOE and two of its subsidiaries have filed six lawsuits against five Chinese subsidiaries of Samsung that are principally engaged in the production of display panels and semiconductors. According to Qichacha’s records, a business data supplier, these cases have been filed at the Chongqing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court in the southwest area of China. On May 18th, the trial will begin.
Interestingly, Samsung Display’s recent actions against the US repair market utilizing low-cost displays supplied by Chinese panel manufactures before the US ITC probe against BOE. Now, BOE is competing head-on with Samsung and a number of its Chinese affiliates that aren’t even in the display production business.
There seems to be no simple explanation for BOE’s recent legal moves against Samsung. It’s possible that their actions are a reaction to Samsung’s earlier this year, or it may just be a coincidence.
Aside from the lawsuits, Samsung Display and BOE are competitors since they are both iPhone component suppliers. In an effort to increase sales to Apple, BOE altered the technical specs of their display without alerting the iPhone manufacturer in May 2022.
Even though BOE came close to replacing Samsung as the primary supplier of iPhone displays earlier this year, the latter firm was unable to produce OLED panels that were up to Apple’s requirements for the iPhone 15.
BOE may be trying to impede Samsung’s manufacture in China by filing litigation against the company. With the intention of becoming Apple’s primary supplier, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in January that 70% of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus screens will be manufactured by BOE.
Source: South China Morning Post
