The recent step by Samsung may increase the cost of screen replacements in the US

Something big could be on its way to the repair industry. The tech firm, Samsung has urged the ITC (International Trade Commission) to inspect the import of OLED panels in individual repair stores. This news comes in when Samsung is trying to block the import of third-party OLED screen replacements for smartphones in the US.

The South Korean tech firm has stated that the AMOLED panels manufactured by the firm are based on several patents. In contrast, Chinese factories sell similar products but at cheaper rates to repair stores. In this way, they are overstepping the patents Samsung. For this reason, the company has requested the US authorities to consider such imports and ban them.

This is quite a good approach in order to dealing with the breaches of patents. Instead of running after the factories that are violating the rules, the tech firm is trying to block out the imports. It is mainly because patent lawsuits are not handled properly in China. For this reason, it will be a good approach to target the companies in the US concerned with imports of OLED panels under discussion.

Some time ago, ITC approved that it would set up an investigation for this matter under section 337 of the Tariff Act [1930]. This particular section provides the authorities with an opportunity to check whether a particular product’s import is impacting a business running in the US. This holds the chances of patent violation and misuse of trade secrets. In such cases, the solution is posing a ban on imports. Besides this, a blanket ban on attempts of imports such products could also be practiced.

If Samsung Display succeeds with the case, then it will have a huge impact on small as well as medium-sized repair stores. Since they won’t have the access to cheaper OLED panels. In this way, the repair costs could increase. Thus, more consumers will be inclined toward Samsung-authorized service centers.