Samsung Display and the Bank of England of China settle lawsuits over patents and trade secrets for OLED displays

Samsung Display and China’s BOE Technology, the supplier of OLED displays used in Apple devices, have agreed to settle a patent lawsuit related to OLED technology.

“The two companies agreed that fair technological competition is essential to the advancement of the display industry,” and therefore decided to withdraw all pending lawsuits, a Samsung Display spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. “we [also] It plans to withdraw all ongoing legal proceedings as part of this agreement.

Samsung Display declined to comment on reports that the Bank of England may pay patent royalties to the Korean hardware giant as part of the settlement. The Bank of England did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The settlement brings an end to a three-year-long battle between Samsung’s display division and the Bank of England, both of which supply displays used in Apple’s iPhones. Samsung in December 2022 filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that the Bank of England had infringed its OLED patents, and then filed another case in October 2023, accusing the Chinese company of stealing trade secrets by poaching employees for access to secret OLED manufacturing processes and technologies.

In March 2025, the International Trade Commission ruled that the Bank of England had infringed three of Samsung Display’s OLED patents. Regarding trade secrets, in a preliminary ruling in July, the International Trade Commission found that the Bank of England misappropriated trade secrets for Samsung Display’s OLED panels, and recommended that the Chinese company be banned from exporting OLED panels to the United States for about 15 years.

Now, it appears that the companies have asked the ITC to end its investigations. When reached for confirmation, the ITC declined to comment.

The settlement comes as major technology companies try to reduce their dependence on Chinese manufacturers for components used in their devices. A US export ban would certainly be bad news for the Bank of England, which is one of the world’s largest suppliers of LCD and OLED displays, behind Samsung and LG.

The Samsung case highlights growing concern about intellectual property theft. In July 2024, a South Korean court sentenced a former Samsung Display engineer to six years in prison for leaking OLED technology worth about $24.5 million to China. Last month, South Korean police opened an investigation after two LG Display employees were suspected of leaking proprietary display technologies to a Chinese company.