Reports say South Korean police had a look around Samsung’s offices in the country yesterday as part of the investigation into the possible theft of OLED TV technology from LG.
Police searched through Samsung’s display-making unit based in the company’s headquarters in Asan, South Korea, looking for any document’s related to LG OLED technology.
Nathan Kim, a spokesperson for Samsung has told Bloomberg that the police searched the offices in connection with allegations that one of the LG partners leaked technology secrets to rival companies. The police are merely trying to work out whether Samsung is involved.
“We have no reason to steal other companies’ technology, as we have the world’s best OLED technology,” said Jun Eun Sun, a Samsung spokeswoman.
The companies have already been involved in a similar investigation last year, which ended up with six LG employees charged for stealing OLED technology information from Samsung.
In this matter, however, LG has said it is not to blame for the Samsung office search.
“The latest investigation is related to large-sized OLED TV panel technology, but the police have made the allegation themselves,” said Son Young Jun, a Seoul-based LG Display spokesman.
Samsung revealed the Samsung 55-inch OLED TV F9500 at CES 2013, later unveiling a curved OLED display providing a “more immersive viewing experience”. The South Korean electronics manufacturer lags behind LG in terms of introducing its OLED televisions though, saying in February it aims to start selling them the first half of this year.
LG announced that UK consumers can pre-order its 55-inch OLED TV for delivery in July, with the TV sets already shipping to the US and Korea. The 55-inch OLED TV is just 4.5mm thick and weighs less than 10kg, offering Full 1920 x 1080p HD resolutions via its WRGB technology. Of course, the premium TV will set anyone wanting to buy it back £9,999.99.
OLED technology offers thinner screens that are more energy efficient and provide crisper images than current liquid-crystal displays.
