Global OLED Technology LLC

Global OLED Technology LLC develops and administers intellectual property purchased by Korea's LG Group from the Eastman Kodak Company for US$100 million^[1] in December 2009.^[2] Comprising some 2,200 patents,^[3] its portfolio of technologies arises from Kodak's research into organic light emitting diodes which stretches back to the 1970s^[4] or early 1980s.^[5]

Ownership

In June 2010 the Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., a petrochemical company based in Tokyo, Japan, acquired a 32.73% stake in Global OLED Technology for several billion yen.^[6] LG Display had an existing relationship with Idemitsu's Electronic Materials Department, having secured a strategic supply of high-performance OLED material through a 24 June 2009 memorandum of understanding.^[7]

The balance of the company is held by three subsidiaries of LG Corp^[8]

• LG Chem, Ltd. - Established in 1947 as Lak-Hui Chemical Industrial Corp., LG Chem is the senior arm of the LG chaebol
• LG Electronics, Inc. - Produces consumer goods including televisions, mobile phones, semiconductors, and home appliances.
• LG Display Co., Ltd. - Founded in 1999 as a joint venture between LG Electronics, Inc. and Koninklijke Philips Consumer Electronics, N.V., it was known as LG.Philips LCD until Philips sold off its stake in 2008.

Licensees

Companies licensing Kodak-developed technologies include^[9]

• Nippon Seiki Co., Ltd. - Mainly incorporates passive OLEDs into automotive instrument panels^[10]
• Optrex Corporation - Wholly owned subsidiary of Kyocera Corporation effective 1 February 2012.
• Ritek Corporation - Maker of the first Taiwanese AMOLED display.^[11]
• Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. - Owners of leading P-OLED research centre Cambridge Display Technology^[12] in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, Sumitomo has built a large P-OLED materials factory^[13] near Osaka, Japan and developed a 423-ppi inkjet printing method of flexible polymer OLED panel manufacture.^[14]
• TDK Corporation - Put small transparent OLED screens into early mass production^[15]
• Tohoku Device Co., Ltd. - Subsidiary of the Pioneer Corporation responsible for the manufacture of speakers, mechatronics, and OLED displays.^[16]
• Truly Semiconductors Limited Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine - Display manufacturer headquartered in Hong Kong.