Samsung and Panasonic Kiss and Make-Up in Plasma Screen Dispute

It seems that the world of plasma displays is large enough to accommodate two of the most formidable rivals on the market, namely Samsung SDI and Matsushita (the company behind the Panasonic brand), since the two powerhouses seem to have finally reached an agreement, after almost 2 years of legal conflicts related to the issue of plasma displays.

Thus, according to Susan Decker reporting for Bloomberg, it would seem that the two companies have finally managed to reach an agreement regarding the various patents related to plasma displays they were accusing each other of infringing (in a lawsuit still pending in federal court in Los Angeles). Additionaly, Samsung SDI has also filed a separate lawsuit in Pittsburgh, accusing the Japanese company of infringing three additional patents.

However, as mentioned earlier, it seems that the conflict between the Japanese and the Koreans might be coming to an end, since a joint court hearing reveals the fact that the companies "have entered into a memorandum of understanding in which they have agreed in principle on terms and conditions of a formal settlement and cross-license agreement".

The goal of this agreement is quite an important one, worth billions of dollars. Thus, according to most analysts, 2008 will be the year of the plasma display, simply because users are looking for increasingly wider displays and plasmas are, for the time being, the only ones capable of delivering on this demand. And taking into consideration this fact, a patent-related lawsuit is not exactly the best thing to have pending, especially since Matsushita has about a third of the global market for plasma panels and Samsung has more than a quarter.

However, the same analysts predict the fact that things will dramatically change in 2009, when LCD technology will allow the development of comparable displays, not to mention the fact that the first OLED displays will also hit the shelves, thus making the competition on this market an even tougher one than it already is. But knowing both Samsung and Matsushita, they'll be ready for these changes.

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