Geopolitics - Page 2

In November 2025, we reported that the Texas Federal Court found Samsung Electronics to be guilty in its patent fight with Pictiva Displays. Samsung was ordered to pay $191.4 million in damages, for infringing upon two US OLED patents (US8,314,547 and US11,828,425). Back then, Samsung said that it will appeal the verdict, and it is also pursuing a separate case with an aim to invalidate the patents in question. 

Now it is reported that Samsung Electronics succeeded in convincing a US patent tribunal to cancel a claim of Pictiva's US11,828,425 patent, which was the only claim in that patent that the US said that Samsung's displays infringe upon. If this decisions holds in later appeals, it means that the damages payments will be reduced by $92.6 million, and Samsung will have to pay "only" $98.8 million to Pictiva Displays.

US-based Neolayer LLC has filed lawsuits against both Samsung Electronics, and Asus, claiming that the two companies infringe upon some of its OLED patents.

Both lawsuits were filed on December 31, in Texas Eastern District Court, and both allege infringement of six patents related to OLED displays and semiconductor structures (backplane technology).

According to reports, The US Congress will vote on its defense funding bill (U.S. National Defense Authorization Act 2026) next week, as a final version of the bill, from a joint Senate and House of Representatives committee, was submitted earlier this week.

As part of this bill, the US Pentagon will be forced to end the use of any China-made or Russian-made displays and display related technologies by 2030. The bill also instructs the US army to map out its entire display needs up to 2040, and to report on its progress in March 2027.

According to a report in Korea, BOE and Samsung Display have finally ended their long AMOLED technology dispute, as BOE has agreed to pay royalties for Samsung Display's OLED IP. The two companies will withdraw all their ongoing lawsuits, including in the US and China.

Samsung Display and BOE are fighting a legal battle for quite some time, mostly in the US. The most important one was based on Samsung's claims that BOE, and also some phone parts retailers, infringe upon its AMOLED patents, and have asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import of any devices that use BOE's AMOLED displays, in addition to after-market AMOLED displays. In July 2025, the ITC found BOE guilty as charged, and following its preliminary ruling to ban BOE's AMOLED, it updated that it will likely ban the import of BOE's AMOLEDs to the US for 15 years, and issued a Limited Exclusion Order (LEO). The ban was not to include devices that use BOE's AMOLEDs, though (such as Apple's iPhones), but it was still to be a problem for BOE which is why the company likely agreed to pay the royalties to Samsung.

According to a report from Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Police has detected signs that key technologies have leaked from LG Display to a company in China, and has launched an investigation, just days after launching a similar investigation at Samsung Display.

The police detectives are suspecting two LGD employees, and have raided the office and seized hundreds of photos from the mobile phone of one of the suspects. These photos include images of internal company documents, and showing crucial process data and design related technologies.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Industrial Technology Security Investigation Team have launched an investigation into some Samsung Display employees, as it suspects OLED technology was leaked to China.

The police conducted a search and seizure raid on Samsung Display’s Asan Campus on October 1st, after it has "detected signs" that some some employees transferred OLED technologies to a Chinese companies. This is still an early stage investigation. The police said that it opened 8 cases of technology leaks in the first half of 2025 (5 of which are to China).

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a new amendment to the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, that may bar the US military from buying displays produced by companies backed by the Chinese (and Russian) governments.

While there are no OLED displays produced in Russia, all OLED producers in China are enjoying government subsidies, which may mean that these will be marked as government backed - and so will be blocked from working with the Pentagon. This is true for AMOLED, PMOLEDs and OLED microdisplays.

Samsung Display and BOE are fighting a legal battle in the US for quite some time. Samsung claims that BOE, and also some phone parts retailers, infringe upon Samsung's AMOLED patents, and have asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import of any devices that use BOE's AMOLED displays, in addition to after-market AMOLED displays. 

In March 2025, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found that BOE, and some after market retailers in the US indeed infringe on several of SDC's AMOLED patents. Last month the ITC again found BOE guilty as charged, and gave a preliminary ruling to ban BOE's AMOLED. The final ruling is expected in November, but the ITC now updates that it will likely ban the import of BOE's AMOLEDs to the US for almost 15 years, and issued a Limited Exclusion Order (LEO). The ban does not include devices that use BOE's AMOLEDs, though.

Samsung Display and BOE are fighting a legal battle in the US for quite some time. Samsung wishes to halt the import of BOE AMOLED displays into the US, mainly in the smartphone displays aftermarket. Samsung claims the BOE, and also some phone parts retailers, infringe upon Samsung's AMOLED patents.

In March 2025, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found that BOE, Injured Gadgets Wholesale Gadget Parts indeed infringe on several of SDC's AMOLED patents. Back then the ITC decided not to impose a ban on the import of BOE's displays in the US. On July 11, however, the ITC issued a preliminary ruling in another Samsung complaint and recommended two sanctions against BOE. This is not a final ruling, but according to experts it is very seldom that the actual recommendations will be different than the preliminary ruling. The ITC's final ruling is expected in November 2025.