Samsung, LG behind closed doors to fight out patent dispute

Will the ongoing dispute between LG and Samsung over a patent reach mutual agreement without the need for court and lawyers?

Korean publication Yon Hap News reports that this may be the case, as the two companies and their display businesses go behind closed doors to battle it out.

The news agency says that Samsung Display chief Kim Ki-nam and LG Display chief executive Han Sang-beom agreed on Monday to meet at a downtown Seoul hotel to "resolve the issue[s] one by one."

Samsung Display and LG Display are embroiled within a patent dispute revolving around the disputed use of patents relating to light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel technology. As both tech firms clawed for additional marketshare within the lucrative panel business -- ranging from television sets to tablets and smartphones -- and competition became fierce, LG and Samsung filed suits against one another over Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and OLED patents.

Korean firm LG Display filed a suit against Samsung last September claiming the violation of up to seven OLED patents -- seeking a sales ban on devices including the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 7.7 -- while Samsung claimed these patents were invalid and lacked innovation. Samsung then filed a suit in December which accuses its rival of copying plane-to-line (PLS) switching technology without paying royalties, seeking a sales ban and 2 billion won (US$1.87 million) in damages.

However, the proceedings have not simply been due to alleged design copying or unlicensed technological use. In July, 11 Samsung employees were arrested by local authorities, who claimed that the staff leaked confidential information about OLED technologies to LG.