South Korea - AFP
South Korea\'s Samsung has hit back at rival LG in a patents row over next-generation display panels
South Korea\'s Samsung has hit back at rival LG in a patents row over next-generation display panels, with both firms accusing the other of stealing technology and senior staff to grab a lead in the market. Samsung
Display, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, asked a Seoul patents court last week to annul seven patents related to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel technologies held by LG, a company spokesman said Monday.
Samsung argued that the technologies lacked the originality and innovation to warrant a patent.
\"These are typical legal steps to defend a company\'s stance in a patent infringement suit,\" the Samsung spokesman told AFP.
The move came after LG Display - one of the world\'s top flat-screen TV makers - filed a patents suit in September against the two Samsung units for allegedly infringing seven of its OLED-related technologies.
LG said that five of Samsung\'s products, including its global hit Galaxy S-series smartphones and tablet computer Galaxy Tab, infringed its patents.
Later in the same month, Samsung filed a court complaint accusing LG of luring away senior Samsung OLED researchers even though they had signed contracts preventing them working for a rival.