By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter


Global electronics goliaths Samsung Electronics and Sony inked a broad-based cross-licensing agreement for the mutual usage of their respective patent portfolios.

Under the deal, Korea’s top high-tech company, Samsung, and its Japanese equivalent, Sony, will be able to take full advantage of each other’s patents.

However, the patents uniquely specific for each firm or rights for designs are excluded from the contract with the aim of fostering healthy competition.

``Today’s announcement is the culmination of negotiations between the two companies since December 2003. We will share patents across major product lines,’’ they said in a statement.

The high-profile partnership is designed for the corporations to keep up with the fast-paced and sophisticated advancement of digital technologies, it added.

Samsung and Sony will share all patents associated with semiconductors and other industry standard technologies such as digitalization and broadband network capability.

By contrast, exclusive technologies will be excluded from the contract, including home network know-how of Samsung and Playstation architectures for Sony.

Display patents for thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) will also be kept out of the patent pool.

``We recognize this agreement will reinforce our ability to provide better products and services to end-users across the world, while maintaining the uniqueness and competitiveness of our products,’’ a Samsung official said.

The deal marks this year’s second major business tie-up between the two global giants after they launched the joint venture S-LCD at Tangjong, South Chungchong Province in March.

Based on up-to-date seventh-generation technologies, the joint TFT-LCD manufacturer plans to pump out products from early next year.

The partnership also showcases a win-win solution for outfits from Korea and Japan amid the surging patent wrangling between the two neighboring nations.

Earlier in February, Japan’s Fujitsu brought Korea’s Samsung SDI to court claiming Samsung had infringed on its patent in producing plasma displays.

Another Japanese firm, Matsushita Electric Industrial, also filed for a court injunction to halt sales of LG’s plasma modules in Japan last month, arguing LG broke its patents.

The first case was settled through a mutual agreement in June but the Matsushita-LG dispute has further escalated as LG filed a counter suit against the company.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr