EPO Issues Decision Regarding Universal Display’s Organometallic Iridium Patent

Universal Display announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) issued a decision on the previously-disclosed appeal of a prior ruling relating to the company’s European Patent No. 1449238 (the EP ‘238 patent). The EPO panel revoked the patent previously allowed by the lower EPO, which had upheld the broadest claim of coverage for organometallic iridium device architectures. The opposing parties included Sumitomo Chemical Company, Merck Patent GmbH and BASF SE.

“While we believe the EPO’s decision is erroneous, as we have noted in the past, any one decision in any one jurisdiction is not expected to have a material effect on our commercial business or agreements,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display.

Universal Display may seek to file a petition to review the matter, which if successful, may re-open the matter for review by the appellate panel. Additionally, the company has a pending divisional EP patent application in which it intends to pursue substantial patent coverage that is similar to that provided in related patents that have previously been issued in the other jurisdictions.

The EP ‘238 patent is one of more than 60 patents issued worldwide that cover four early fundamental phosphorescent OLED inventions developed at Princeton University and the University of Southern California, which are exclusively licensed to Universal Display Corporation. Universal Display’s basic phosphorescent patents encompass organic light emitting devices that produce electroluminescence using an emissive layer comprised of a phosphorescent material.