QNED, ShmooNED
Back in January we noted that South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were at odds over the term “QNED”, which both were trying to get approved as a trademark in the US Patent Office. Both companies seem to have staked a claim on ‘QNED’ despite the fact that the term means different things to each company. Samsung Display has been developing an OLED/QD technology that uses a blue fluorescent OLED emitter as a basis, along with quantum dots to create an RGB display. During that development, Samsung found that substituting a blue nano-rod LED structure for the blue OLED material would be an alternative that would eliminate some of the issues that surround the use of blue fluorescent OLED emitter materials. SDC calls that alternative technology QNED. LG Electronics has developed a TV technology that combines a more sensitive color filter, mini-LED backlighting and quantum dots, to create an LCD based ‘almost OLED’ TV line that it has recently introduced. LG calls this alternative technology QNED.
As these are two very different TV technologies, although that will likely make little difference to consumers who will decide on a far less technical basis which is the better of the two, the battle between LG and Samsung continued until the US Patent Office stated at the end of last month that neither could trademark ‘QNED’ as it was an abbreviation for ‘quantum nano emitting diode’, which the USPO considers a generic term and not a unique trademark. Of course, that applies only to the US, as LG at least, has applied for trademark status for QNED in 11 countries, including Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe, with Samsung likely the same. Regardless of the ruling, the word can still appear on products, which will serve only to confuse consumers, most of whom would not know the difference between the underlying technologies.
As these are two very different TV technologies, although that will likely make little difference to consumers who will decide on a far less technical basis which is the better of the two, the battle between LG and Samsung continued until the US Patent Office stated at the end of last month that neither could trademark ‘QNED’ as it was an abbreviation for ‘quantum nano emitting diode’, which the USPO considers a generic term and not a unique trademark. Of course, that applies only to the US, as LG at least, has applied for trademark status for QNED in 11 countries, including Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe, with Samsung likely the same. Regardless of the ruling, the word can still appear on products, which will serve only to confuse consumers, most of whom would not know the difference between the underlying technologies.
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