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  • Kodak, Sanyo Tie Up on Organic Electroluminescent Display
  • February 10, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Eastman Kodak Co. and Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. reached an agreement to cooperate on organic electroluminescent displays.
    Kodak will license to Sanyo its organic EL display technologies, including its basic patents. Sanyo will be mainly in charge of manufacturing and marketing organic EL display products.

    Because an organic EL display needs no backlight, the device is suitable for use in small and light mobile devices. The display features faster response and wider viewing angles than those of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), and therefore, it is attracting attention as a next-generation display.

    Both companies specifically cooperate to develop and commercialize active (active matrix structure based on thin-film transistor) organic EL displays.

    The agreement comprises:

    1) Using technologies of their own, both companies will jointly develop and commercialize displays, drivers and control devices in succession,

    2) Kodak will prepare materials, and Sanyo will make and sell the products,

    and 3) Both companies will jointly conduct a business to license intellectual property of organic EL displays to third parties.

    Both companies plan to start developing monochrome, multi- and full-color, passive-type (simple matrix structure) organic EL displays to commercialize those products in 2000.

    Then, they will develop full-color, active-type displays as early as 2001, and commercialize those products for use in digital cameras, digital camcorders and car navigation systems.

    Although Kodak already has licensed its organic EL display technologies to Pioneer Electronic Corp. and other companies, this is Kodak's first agreement with another company to transfer its active organic EL display technologies.

    Carl F. Kohrt, executive vice president of Eastman Kodak, said that Sanyo, which has positive achievements of technology development and production in low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor LCDs, and Kodak can work for mutual benefits. That collaboration will be a shortcut to commercialize active organic EL displays, he said.

    Sadao Kondo, president of Sanyo, said the duo will be the strongest alliance in the organic EL display business segment and would be a front runner in the organic EL display market, which is expected to expand to a scale of 300 billion yen (US$2.6 billion) in 2001.

    More information in English is at: http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4-eng/9902news-e/0204kdk.html

    (BizTech News Dept.)



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    Updated: Tue Feb 9 15:39:21 1999 PDT