Kodak Licenses OLEDs

Eastman Kodak Co. announced today a cross-licensing agreement with a Taiwan display maker to incorporate Kodak's active-matrix organic LED (OLED) display technology in small-panel, mobile displays.

The license, which is royalty-bearing to Kodak, enables Chi Mei EL (CMEL), a subsidiary of Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) based at the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Taiwan, to use Kodak technology for active-matrix OLED modules in a variety of small- to medium-size display applications such as mobile phones, digital cameras and portable media players and enables CMEL to purchase Kodak's patented OLED materials for use in manufacturing displays. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

CMEL makes OLEDs for a variety of applications. Its parent company is a manufacturer of thin-film transistor LCD (TFT-LCD) display products.

“This agreement between Kodak, CMO and CMEL validates that the active matrix OLED industry continues to gain substantial momentum and is the future for brilliant displays,” said Mary Jane Hellyar, president of Kodak's display business and a senior vice president at Eastman Kodak.

Kodak developed small-molecule OLED technology in the late 1980s and said it has generated more than 1800 related patents and pending patents worldwide. OLEDs contain organic thin-film materials that emit light when stimulated by an electrical charge. Recent advances enable OLED displays to emit light across the full color spectrum of common NTSC or sRGB digital standards. Commonly cited benefits over LCDs include higher contrast, fast response time for blur-free video motion, a 180-degree viewing angle, a thinner design and potentially lower manufacturing costs.

For more information, visit: kodak.com