SFC, a joint venture between Samsung Display and the Japanese chemical corporations Hodogaya, won a civil lawsuit over patents related to the core organic light-emitting diode (OLED) material "blue dopant" against SK Materials JNC (SKMJ).
According to legal sources on the 8th, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 61 (Presiding Judge Cho Hee-chan, Director General) ruled for the plaintiff on Apr. 29 in SFC's suit seeking to ban SKMJ from infringing its patent rights. The court ordered SKMJ to pay SFC 100 million won in damages and to bear all litigation expense.
Blue dopant is a key organic emissive material that enables blue light in OLED displays. It is harder to realize and has a shorter lifespan than red and green materials, making it a field with high technological barriers in the OLED materials industry. Securing a blue dopant with high efficiency and long life directly ties to OLED panel competitiveness.
SFC is an OLED materials corporations established in 1998, with equity held by Samsung Display and Hodogaya. SKMJ, founded in 2020, has equity held by SK Materials and the Japanese OLED materials company JNC.
The two companies have been engaged in litigation over blue dopant patents in Korea and Japan since 2019. Multiple disputes arose as each claimed the other infringed its patents. After SFC received favorable rulings in related patent disputes, SFC filed this suit seeking to ban patent infringement against SKMJ in Sept. 2022.
The core issue in this trial was whether the blue dopant substance produced by SKMJ falls within the scope of SFC's patent rights. SKMJ argued that its compound is a separate substance with a chemical structure different from SFC's patent. It also contended that it holds other patents related to the substance and thus has the legitimate right to manufacture and sell the product.
However, the court did not accept SKMJ's arguments. Comparing the chemical structures of the two substances and the patent claims, the court found that SKMJ's product contains all the key technical features protected by SFC's patent. The court also held that SKMJ's claim of holding separate patents does not provide grounds to avoid liability for infringing SFC's patent.
The court calculated the damages at 250 million won, considering SKMJ's total sales and the average profit margin in the industry. However, taking into account that SFC claimed 100 million won, the court ordered SKMJ to pay SFC 100 million won.
Industry observers say the ruling underscores the importance of patents in the OLED materials market. Moon Dae-gyu, a professor at Soonchunhyang University, said, "High-efficiency, long-lifespan blue-light materials tend to have similar components and structures, so patent disputes can significantly affect corporations' strategies and market competition."
SKMJ said it will decide whether to appeal after reviewing the written judgment.