Inventor of The Year Competition Recognizes Inventors For Universal Display Corp.'s Proprietary Stacked Organic Light Emitting Diode Patent
Business Wire - April 07, 1998 11:50
BALA CYNWYD, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 1998--Universal Display Corp. (NASDAQ:PANL), a developer of flat panel display technology, announced Tuesday that their research partners, Princeton University's Dr. Stephen R. Forrest, Dr. Paul E. Burrows and the University of Southern California's Dr. Mark E. Thompson have been named 1998 Distinguished Inventors by the Intellectual Property Owners at their 1998 National Inventor of the Year Award ceremony for their work in creating a revolutionary architecture for full-color flat panel displays using light emitting organic materials.
Multicolor Organic Light Emitting Devices, U.S. Patent No. 5,707,745 was issued in January 1998 to Universal Display Corp.'s research partner, Princeton University. UDC has the exclusive worldwide license to this patent.
The patent covers a vertically stacked organic light emitting device (SOLED), which provides for the stacking of color pixels on top of each other rather than the conventional side-by-side architecture used
in current televisions and displays, thus providing three times the resolution in the same area.
This is intended to permit such future applications as high-definition televisions (HDTV) on flat panel displays that hang on a wall like a painting and cellular phones, laptop computers and other portable devices with bright displays that consume considerably less energy.
"We are extremely proud to be associated with these extraordinarily talented individuals," stated Sherwin I. Seligsohn, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the company. "The work they have
performed will transform the way we see information in the future. They have designed the architecture for the future window to the Information Age," added Seligsohn.
They received the award at the 25th annual National Inventor of the Year Award Ceremony at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The awards were presented by Bruce Lehman, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office.
The Inventor of the Year Award was given to Oncormed Inc. for their identification of the human BRCA1 gene, which is an inherited mutation that is found in women who may develop breast or ovarian cancer.
Another Distinguished Inventor Award was given to Ford Motor Company for its ultra-efficient catalyst system. In addition, other finalists who were also honored included Adidas Corp., IBM Corp. and Intel
Corp.
Universal Display Corp. is a developer of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology for applications such as flat panel displays, lasers and light. The rapidly growing display market is currently estimated at $35 billion annually worldwide, comprised mostly of cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal display (LCD) technologies.
The company's proprietary Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology is seen as a future replacement technology for CRTs and LCDs, due to their brightness, high resolution, energy efficiency
and cost effectiveness.
The company's proprietary technology centers around three important technology platforms---transparency, flexibility and full-color, vertically stacked pixels. This should allow for light weight, portable and flexible flat panel displays. Three patents have recently been issued in the United States relating to transparency and vertically stacked pixels.
More than 40 patents have been filed in the United States since this project began, and corresponding international patent applications have been filed. UDC is the exclusive licensee of all technology
developed in the project.
UDC has had a strategic research partnership with Princeton University and the University of Southern California for the Organic Light Emitter Project since 1994. Recently, the partnership was extended
through 2002, the Universities became shareholders in UDC, and UDC committed to continue funding the Project for the next five years for applications such as flat panel displays, lasers and light.
Universal Display Corp. is a member of the United States Display Consortium (USDC) a cooperative industry/government effort aimed at developing an infrastructure to support a North American flat panel
display (FPD) industry.
UDC is part of a team including Princeton, USC and Hughes Electronics which is working under a $3 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the continued development of ultra light-weight, full-color OLED flat panel display technology.
UDC and Princeton are also teaming on a Phase I STTR grant from the National Science Foundation and a grant from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.
This news release contains statements of a forward-looking nature relating to the future financial performance of Universal Display Corp. Investors are cautioned that such statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially.
In evaluating such statements, investors should specifically consider the various factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements,
including the matters set forth in the company's Annual Report for the year ended Dec. 31, 1997 on Form 10-K and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in
the company's other reports and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
All statements in this press release that are not historical are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially for Universal Display from those projected, including, but not limited to, uncertainties relating to technological approaches, product development, manufacturing, and marketing acceptance, uncertainties related to cost and pricing of Universal Display products, dependence on collaborative partners, and other competition, risks relating to intellectual property of others and the uncertainties of patent protection.
These are discussed in periodic reports filed with the SEC, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 1997 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q.
Universal Display Corp. expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in
Universal Display Corp.'s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements are based. |
