Universal Display Announces Agreement with Panasonic Idemitsu OLED Lighting for OLED Lighting Products

Universal Display Corporation announced that it has entered into a technology license agreement with Panasonic Idemitsu OLED Lighting Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. Under the new agreement, Panasonic Idemitsu OLED Lighting (PIOL) will be licensed to integrate Universal Displays proprietary UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent and other OLED technologies and materials into OLED lighting products.

“We are very pleased to enter into this arrangement with Panasonic Idemitsu OLED Lighting for their use of our proprietary UniversalPHOLED materials and technology in their OLED lighting products. We believe that this joint venture will be a leading player in the commercialization of OLED lighting,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and CEO of Universal Display. “Having worked with both Panasonic Electric Works and Idemitsu Kosan over the past few years, we look forward to supporting PIOL to accelerate their commercialization efforts and to building a successful long-term commercial relationship as PIOL brings energy-efficient OLED lighting products to the market.”

Under the license agreement, Universal Display has granted license rights under various patents and associated know-how owned or controlled by Universal Display for PIOL to manufacture and sell OLED products for lighting applications. PIOL will pay Universal Display running royalties on its sales of these products under the agreement, with a portion of the royalties prepaid. The parties have also entered into a separate material supply agreement. The terms of both agreements run through July 31, 2014.

OLEDs are considered a potential solution for introducing more energy-efficient, environmentally-benign and design-friendly lighting products. Universal Displays phosphorescent OLED technology and materials have demonstrated a four-to-one power advantage over other OLED technologies, resulting in record energy-efficient OLEDs. Advances in OLED lighting, including those demonstrated by Universal Display, now allow OLEDs to meet a variety of niche lighting performance targets and demonstrate the potential for OLEDs to achieve general lighting targets established by the U.S. Department of Energy. It has been estimated that by 2016, OLEDs could generate well over $20 billion in worldwide savings of electricity costs and could save over nine million metric tons of carbon emissions from the U.S. alone.