UDC to acquire emissive OLED patent assets from Merck KGaA
Universal Display Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OLED patent assets from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company.
This portfolio, which has an average remaining lifetime of approximately 10 years, includes more than 300 issued and pending patents worldwide, covering more than 110 unique patent families in the field of advanced OLED emissive device structures and related material components.
“We are pleased to continue to enhance our OLED patent portfolio, a move that is poised to bolster UDC’s OLED technology roadmap and further broaden the addressable scope of our innovation engine,” said Steven V. Abramson, President and CEO of Universal Display Corporation, in a press release. “These assets from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany are expected to complement our world‑class R&D and materials discovery and design platforms as we continue to support the growing OLED market.”
The acquisition is expected to expand UDC’s patent coverage across key emissive building blocks that enable high‑efficiency OLED devices and aligns with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s strategy to focus on charge transport and triplet host materials, boosting the performance of components surrounding the emissive materials in these devices.
“This IP package represents a significant milestone in our innovation pipeline, integrating multiple next-generation inventions related to emissive layer technology,” adds Johannes Canisius, General Manager of the OLED business at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. “Transferring this IP to UDC underscores our commitment to advancing OLED technology to new levels of performance and ensuring our innovations are maximized in value and application.”