Solas OLED, an Irish company, again prevails against consumer electronics giants

DUBLIN, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Solas OLED Ltd. ("Solas"), an Irish company that owns patents relevant to OLED technology, announced today that it has again prevailed in its patent infringement action in Germany against electronics giants LG Display Co., LG Display Germany GmbH, LG Electronics Inc., LG Electronics Deutschland GmbH, and Sony Europe B.V. ("Defendants").

On November 6, 2020, the Mannheim District Court in Germany declared Solas' German patent DE 102 54 511 B4 (concerning a control circuit for light emitting diodes as invented at Stuttgart university) infringed by the Defendants, and enjoined the Defendants from marketing infringing OLED TVs in Germany subject to Solas posting a security (Court ref. 7 O 37/19).  Solas posted the required security and on November 18 the Defendants filed an appeal and requested an immediate stay of the injunction.  The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court imposed a temporary stay on the injunction on November 26 as a precautionary matter to consider the merits of the request and, after three weeks-worth of volumes of briefing on the issue, the Court ruled in favour of Solas and rejected the request to stay the enforcement of the first instance judgment including the injunction.  (Court ref. 6 U 184/20.)    

As a result of that Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court decision, the Defendants must now immediately cease and desist from marketing infringing products in Germany; apart from LG Display Germany GmbH, they will have to recall from commercial customers all infringing products; and must render to Solas a detailed accounting necessary to establish damages owed by Defendants for sales of infringing products in Germany dating back to April, 2009.

Of particulate note, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court stated "[i]n view of the fact that the Senate, on summary examination, neither assumes a manifestly incorrect decision of the Regional Court nor affirms a suspension due to special damage, there are no sufficient circumstances for a temporary suspension of enforcement even when weighing the interests of the parties. Insofar as the defendants emphasize that the plaintiff is a patent exploitation company and - in contrast to a competitor - is only pursuing monetary interests, this circumstance alone is not sufficient to disrupt the provisional enforceability of a title, which in principle gives priority to the creditor's interest, by means of the temporary suspension of enforcement (cf. in this regard also Senate, Decision of April 18, 2011 - 6 U 28/11 Juris, margin no. 5 et seq.)."  (Court ref. 6 U 184/20.)   

General Counsel for Atlantic IP Services, Ltd. – Solas' management company – Aoife Butler, commented: "The German Patent Courts have an excellent reputation in Europe and so we are very happy that the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court took the time to consider the merits and determine that a stay of enforcement was not justified and, therefore, the Defendants remain enjoined.  IP infringement is a serious matter, and the impact extends well beyond the parties directly involved in lawsuits, including to inventors whose inventions are essentially stolen or researchers who are denied funding because of lost streams of revenue.  It is always commendable when Courts are willing to dig-in to reach the right decision even when being bullied by multi-nationals, and we are gratified that we can get equal footing against gigantic companies in a court of law."

About Solas OLED Ltd.

Solas OLED Ltd. ("Solas") is an Irish OLED technology licensing company based in Dublin, Ireland. Established in 2016, Solas has assembled one of the world's largest, most important and comprehensive intellectual property portfolios in the OLED space. 

From the smallest OLED watch to the largest OLED TV, Solas' intellectual property is fundamental to the design, circuitry and manufacturing of OLED displays.

Solas continues to develop, seek, evaluate and acquire patents in the OLED space, please visit www.solasoled.com