[THE INVESTOR] China’s patent authorities have recently canceled LG Electronics’ trademark filing for “QLED,” saying a commonly-used term within the industry cannot be owned exclusively by an individual or an entity, an LG spokesperson confirmed on May 11.

QLED, an upgrade from the current OLED or the advanced LCD, is a next-generation display technology using light-emitting quantum dot semiconductor particles, but its mass-market adoption is expected to take at least five more years. 

Samsung's QLED TV

Back in 2014, LG, a leading OLED TV maker, filed the trademark application to take an earlier edge in the field over its rivals like Samsung Electronics. But Samsung immediately lodged a complaint to nullify the application.

The latest Chinese ruling comes after LG’s application was rejected in Korea in 2015.

“We are aware of the cancellation. For now, we have no plans to take any action regarding the matter,” the LG official told The Investor on condition of anonymity.

It is quite an ironical situation. Actually, Samsung owns the trademark for “Samsung QLED,” a brand name for its new premium TV lineup based on upgraded LCD that was launched last year. 

Samsung says rivals are welcome to use the term for their upgraded LCD TV but some critics are still skeptical about calling Samsung’s quantum-dot TVs as “true QLED,” as their QD particles do not emitt light by themselves.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)