Universal Display Corporation, enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED(R) technology and materials, today announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) issued a decision on the previously-disclosed appeal of a prior ruling relating to the Company's European Patent No. 1449238 (the EP '238 patent). The EPO panel revoked the patent previously allowed by the lower EPO, which had upheld the broadest claim of coverage for organometallic iridium device architectures. The opposing parties included Sumitomo Chemical Company, Merck Patent GmbH and BASF SE.
"While we believe the EPO's decision is erroneous, as we have noted in the past, any one decision in any one jurisdiction is not expected to have a material effect on our commercial business or agreements," said Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display Corporation.
Universal Display may seek to file a petition to review the matter, which if successful, may re-open the matter for review by the appellate panel. Additionally, the Company has a pending divisional EP patent application in which it intends to pursue substantial patent coverage that is similar to that provided in related patents that have previously been issued in the other jurisdictions.
The EP '238 patent is one of more than sixty patents issued worldwide that cover four early fundamental phosphorescent OLED inventions developed at Princeton University and the University of Southern California, which are exclusively licensed to Universal Display Corporation. Universal Display's basic phosphorescent patents encompass organic light emitting devices that produce electroluminescence using an emissive layer comprised of a phosphorescent material.
UDC is committed to increasing the value of and defending its intellectual property portfolio by building upon and around its core fundamental phosphorescent patent families. The Company has a growing portfolio of over 3,000 issued and pending OLED device, architecture and material patents worldwide. This extensive IP framework is designed not only to fortify Universal Display's licensing and materials business model beyond 2020, but to help ensure that the trajectory of the Company's future will not be defined by any one patent or decision, favorable or unfavorable.
Universal Display Corporation notes that oppositions against issued and pending patents are common and decisions by patent tribunals are subject to further review and consideration. In addition, because of the application of different rules and regulations in different countries, and the fact that each patent in each jurisdiction represents a unique and distinct set of rights, a specific outcome in one jurisdiction may not be indicative of the likely outcome of similar challenges in other jurisdictions or the likelihood of such proceedings in other countries.
