Samsung Display Office Raided Over Alleged LG Display Technology Theft
Bloomberg reports Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency investigators entered the Samsung Display HQ in Asan as they look into the possibility that LG partners may have leaked secrets of its technology.
Police are investigating whether partners of rival panel maker LG Display Co. leaked technology secrets and whether Samsung is involved, Nathan Kim, a spokesman for Samsung, said by phone today. The two companies have been involved in criminal probes of alleged technology theft since last year. In July, six employees of LG Display were charged over theft of OLED technology from Samsung.
“We have no reason to steal other companies’ technology, as we have the world’s best OLED technology,” Jun Eun Sun, a spokeswoman for Samsung, told Bloomberg today in Asan.
LG Display said it didn’t report Samsung to police in connection with the current investigation.
Police secured documents and computer hard disks as they probe allegations Samsung swiped OLED, or organic-light-emitting diode, panel technology in 2010 from a subcontractor of key competitor LG Display.
“The latest investigation is related to large-sized OLED TV panel technology, but the police have made the allegation themselves,” Son Young Jun, a Seoul-based LG Display spokesman.
The OLED television is more technologically advanced than other flat display panels, including liquid crystal display or plasma display panel TVs. The OLED technology is regarded to be the key technology of next-generation televisions.
Samsung says the truth will be revealed through the police investigation, adding that the probe is focused on the alleged technology leak by LG Display’s subcontractor.
[Bloomberg]
