BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics) has reportedly launched a barrage of patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung and Samsung subsidiaries in China. This news comes roughly one month after the US ITC (International Trade Commission) decided to launch an investigation on BOE for patent infringement on Samsung Display.
BOE is reportedly suing Samsung Semiconductor, Samsung Investment, Samsung Vision, and other Samsung subsidiaries in China on account of patent infringement. The news broke out on the Chinese social network Weibo, but there aren't too many details as to exactly why BOE is going against Samsung.
Retaliation for events that happened earlier this year?
Interestingly, the recent US ITC investigation on BOE happened after Samsung Display took action against the USA repair market using cheap displays supplied by Chinese panel makers. Now, BOE is going against Samsung and many of its subsidiaries in China, some of which don't even operate in the display manufacturing market segment.
The reasons behind BOE's recent legal actions against Samsung are not easy to explain. It could be a coincidence that they're following Samsung's own actions from earlier this year, or they may be a calculated response to those actions.
In January, Samsung Display went against the US repair market, requesting the ban of 17 wholesalers, including Captain Mobile Parts, E-Tech PArts Plus, Gadget Fix, Injured Gadget, and others. The US ITC started a Samsung Display patent infringement investigation on BOE on April 6. (via BusinessKorea)
Outside these legal disputes, Samsung Display and BOE are also natural rivals because they're both Apple suppliers for the iPhone series. BOE has been trying to get more orders from Apple, going so far as to try to cheat the iPhone maker by quietly changing the specifications of its display in May 2022. And while Samsung was at risk of losing a big share of iPhone display orders to BOE earlier this year, the latter company failed again to meet Apple's standards for iPhone 15 OLED panels.
