Samsung Not Quitting OLED TV; Files “Super UHD” Trademark

Samsung has been struggling for some time to manufacture its OLED TV sets at a competitive price, but the company remains convinced its engineers will get there one day. To underline that point, the Korean electronics giant has just made an application to trademark the names of its OLED TVs, according to a report in The Korea Herald.

Samsung OLED TV

The paper cites sources at the Korean Intellectual Property Office as saying that Samsung has made an application in Seoul for the exclusive rights to five names; namely “Super UHD OLED”, “Ultra Super OLED”, “Samsung Super Ultra OLED”, “Ultra OLED” and “Super UHD”. The paper goes on to say the move appears to be a pre-emptive one, in order to prevent rival brands like LG Electronics from securing the trademarks first.

Market watchers will note that Samsung has struggled to match its cross-town arch-rival in the large-screen OLED market so far. The South Korean manufacturer released its first commercially available OLED TV in 2013, but that was astronomically expensive and the company has done little else in the OLED space since. Indeed, Samsung doesn’t even have a single OLED display in its 2015 television lineup, and is instead pushing its 4K ultra high-definition (UHD) LED LCD TVs based on its proprietary quantum dot technology as the way forward for now.

In contrast, LG is promoting OLED televisions as its flagship models for the year ahead, confident that manufacturing costs will decrease as its production yields rise. Last December, the firm said it was planning to ramp up OLED display panel production at its Korean plant, boosting its capacity from 8,000 to 26,000 panels per month.

As for when Samsung will finally get back into the game, that’s still anyone’s guess. The company does have an ace up its sleeve though, thanks to its investment in a revolutionary new OLED startup called Kateeva. The US-based outfit has developed an inkjet printing solution it claims can slash the costs of manufacturing OLED whilst boosting production yields, but it’s unclear when Samsung will be able to put its methods to use.

Source: The Korea Herald

7 comments

  1. The key phrase from your report….

    “The paper goes on to say the move appears to be a pre-emptive one, in order to prevent rival brands like LG Electronics from securing the trademarks first.”

    So, most likely it’s Samsung simply covering its bases, and securing relating trademarks regardless of any intention to actually put them into use.

    So why the misleading headline?

    Desk

  2. “Ultra Super OLED”?
    They could rival Capcom with such names as “Super Street Fighter II Turbo Remix”, etc. :)

  3. I have feeling that js9500 will be the last {{ premium }} led tv from samsung .

  4. @Liam Angel: We have industry sources reporting that Samsung is still working on OLED TV.

    @FoxHounder: Lol! Nice one.

    @polanofesky: I sincerely I doubt so… unless you’re referring to the JS9500 being Samsung’s last FALD LED LCD?

    Warmest regards
    Vincent

  5. I believe 2016 will be a very exciting time for 4k oled tvs. for when 4k Blu-ray players start to come on the market this is where 4k oled will begin to shine above all that lcd electronic wizardry crammed into its tvs. Samsung, amongst other tv makers, will then have to get its act together if it still wants to be known to sell best picture quality tvs. Samsung will overcome the limited size problem it has hit with oled tvs for sure. as for when it will have to be by 2017. otherwise pana and lg will have eaten up a lagre share of the tv market. Samsungs 4k oled tvs will cost a bomb. but you get what you pay for in this life. my only concern is if they keep on trying to cram curved tvs on people that don’t want it. I do hope they will give everyone a choice. so the affect 4k oled tvs will have on all these high end 2015 lcd tvs will be a huge price drop. so those who are patient will be winners all the way.

  6. Eyeball, I would be very much surprised if Panny was still selling TVs after 2015.

  7. @Vincent

    I mean it will be the last led model from samsung as { premium flaghip } , in 2016 oled will mature enough to replace it .