Germany is the arena for yet another legal battle between tech giants — Samsung Electronics has just won a case against TCL over “fake QLED” TVs.
Quantum dots are used in certain display types to improve efficiency and colour accuracy. For example, some Samsung TVs use an ultraviolet backlight. Ultraviolet LEDs are very efficient, but UV is not part of the visible spectrum. Quantum dots absorb this UV light and emit visible light in the desired colour. An additional advantage of this approach is that quantum dots are much easier to tune to an exact wavelength of light than a typical LED.
Samsung was able to demonstrate that certain TCL TVs did not use quantum dot technology despite advertising suggesting otherwise. TCL was not able to refute this in front of the Munich I Regional Court.
Six different TV series are affected — the court ordered TCL to stop advertising those TVs as “QLED” and to correct false statements about them. However, this ruling is not legally binding yet, and TCL can still appeal.
The issue is not limited to Germany. Samsung has similar cases against TCL in the United States and South Korea as well. The outcome of the case in Germany could influence these other cases too.
