China’s top display maker BOE slaps Samsung with patent-infringement lawsuits, heating up rivalry between the 2 Apple suppliers

BOE and two of its subsidiaries have filed six lawsuits against Samsung and its five Chinese entities at a court in the southwestern city of Chongqing
The legal actions represent the Chinese tech company’s first salvo against Samsung, which had instigated a trade dispute in the US last year

China technology

Coco Fengin Beijing

Published: 7:00pm, 10 May 2023

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Top Chinese display panel manufacturer BOE Technology Group has slapped rival Samsung Electronics with a series of patent-infringement lawsuits, ratcheting up the intellectual property dispute between the two major Apple suppliers ahead of the launch of new iPhones later this year.

Beijing-based BOE and two of its subsidiaries recently filed six lawsuits against the South Korean tech conglomerate and its five Chinese entities – mostly display panel and semiconductor companies – at the Chongqing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court in southwestern China, according to company records tracked by business data provider Qichacha.

Two other lawsuits were initiated by BOE against Chongqing Jingdong Jiapin Trading Co, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant JD.com that sells electronic products online.

Without elaborating, all eight cases filed by BOE involved “disputes over infringement of patent rights of inventions”, according to company records. These are expected to be heard by the Chongqing court next Thursday, with a follow-up hearing set for August next year.

The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul, South Korea, on January 7, 2019. Photo: Reuters

BOE, Samsung and JD.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The legal actions taken by Shenzhen-listed BOE, whose largest shareholder is an asset management firm under the Beijing municipal government, represent the Chinese tech company’s first salvo against Samsung, which had instigated a trade dispute last year.

In December, Samsung filed a complaint to the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) on 17 smartphone repair shops in the country. It claimed that these shops sourced certain “illegal” display panels to fix Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and Apple’s iPhones.

Samsung claimed that those products violated its intellectual property rights, which include its so-called Diamond Pixel technology that places red, blue and green dots in the shape of diamonds to maximise visual clarity on display panels.

The ITC – a quasi-judicial entity that investigates the impact of imports on US industries, and directs action against unfair trade practices – started an investigation into BOE in April even though Samsung’s complaint did not name any specific screen supplier, according to a report by monthly magazine BusinessKorea.

China’s BOE poised to help Apple cut its reliance on Samsung’s screens

BOE and Samsung’s intellectual property dispute raises the stakes for the two companies, as the Chinese firm is predicted to overtake its Korean rival to become Apple’s top screen supplier by 2024.

Samsung’s ITC case was already seen as “an indirect warning to [Chinese companies] because it raised the issue with the importers”, according to a January report by The Korea Herald, which cited an industry source close to the matter.

Early last year, Samsung had suggested that Apple not use BOE’s display technology because it only made a “slight change” to the South Korean firm’s own screen system, according to a report by Chinese hi-tech information portal OFweek. Later in August, BOE unveiled its self-developed “Blue Diamond” pixel arrangement system that optimises display clarity.

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When asked by shareholders about its Blue Diamond technology in November, BOE asserted that it was a leader “in innovation and actively protects its own intellectual property rights, while respecting the intellectual property rights of others”, according to the online question-and-answer board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Founded in 1993, BOE started supplying displays for Apple ahead of the release of the iPhone 12 in 2020. In 2021, BOE produced 10 per cent of all organic light-emitting diode displays for iPhones, shipping 16 million units to Apple, according to Chinese market intelligence firm Runto Technology.

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