OLED Display Color Filter Patent Landscape 2026
OLED Display Color Filter Patent Landscape in 2026
The OLED display color filter patent space is dominated by a small group of Chinese and Korean panel makers, with BOE Technology Group holding the largest single position among the top filers. Annual filing volume peaked in 2019 and has eased since, placing the field in a declining phase, though adjacent branches in lighting circuits and display control remain comparatively sparse.
BOE leads a concentrated field of panel-maker incumbents
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. holds the top position among the hundred largest filers, followed closely by Wuhan. China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology and Shenzhen. China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology. The top five filers together account for 42% of the combined total of the hundred largest filers, signaling a moderately concentrated competitive structure.
A clear tier gap exists between the top three Chinese panel makers and the fourth-ranked Samsung Display Co., Ltd., with LG Display Co., Ltd. and Universal Display Corp. forming a secondary cluster. Below that tier, the remaining ranked filers hold substantially smaller shares, reinforcing the oligopolistic nature of the landscape.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | 71 | |
| 2 | Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 46 | |
| 3 | Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 42 | |
| 4 | Samsung Display Co., Ltd. | 38 | |
| 5 | TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 35 | |
| 6 | LG Display Co., Ltd. | 34 | |
| 7 | Universal Display Corp. | 23 | |
| 8 | Global OLED Technology LLC | 23 | |
| 9 | Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 15 | |
| 10 | Nitto Denko Corp. | 14 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Anhui Semiconductor Integrated Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 13 | |
| 12 | Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 10 | |
| 13 | Akron Polymer Systems Inc. | 7 | |
| 14 | eMagin Corp. | 6 | |
| 15 | Beijing BOE Technology Development Co., Ltd. | 5 | |
| 16 | FED Corp. | 5 | |
| 17 | 3M Innovative Properties Co. | 5 | |
| 18 | Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 5 | |
| 19 | Corning Inc. | 5 | |
| 20 | Wintek Corp. | 5 |
The dominance of vertically integrated panel manufacturers — China Star entities, Samsung Display, and LG Display — indicates that color filter innovation is largely captive to display fabs rather than material or component specialists. New entrants from adjacent disciplines face an incumbent base with deep filing histories and established cross-licensing relationships.
Filing counts for the most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and likely understate true recent activity; trend readings for 2024–2026 should be treated as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2019; semiconductor device classes dominate the technology mix
The filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field that surged to its highest annual volume in 2019 and has since contracted, while the IPC class mix shows heavy concentration in semiconductor device classifications with a long tail of adjacent technical branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings rose from 36 records in 2017 to a peak of 51 in 2019, then declined irregularly, with a secondary rebound to 38 in 2023 before falling to 27 in 2024. The 2025 and 2026 figures are materially understated due to patent publication lag and should not be read as reflecting true activity levels.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) and H10K (Organic semiconductors / OLED) together account for the two largest branches, reflecting the device-level focus of most filers. G02B (Optical elements and systems) ranks third, driven by Nitto Denko’s filter optics work. Lower-density branches — H05B, G09F, G02F, G09G, and G06F — represent adjacent functional areas with relatively sparse coverage.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Color filter structure and OLED display panel
The invention provides a color filter structure and an OLED display panel. The color filter structure includes a base layer, a color filter, a black matrix, a protective film, and a transparent conductive film, wherein the color filter includes nanoparticles. The OLED display panel includes a base substrate, a TFT structure, a color resistor retaining wall… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inorganic-based color conversion matrix element fo… | 295 |
| 2 | Pixel structure an organic light-emitting diode di… | 189 |
| 3 | Full-color organic display with color filter techn… | 146 |
| 4 | Organic light-emitting diode display | 144 |
| 5 | Power efficient RGBW OLED display | 118 |
| 6 | Process of integrating a digitizer input device in… | 113 |
| 7 | White light tandem OLED display with filters | 112 |
| 8 | Reducing or eliminating color change for microcavi… | 106 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity, concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic reach — shape the risk-return profile for any organization considering entry or expansion in this space.
Declining phase: annual volume has eased from its 2019 peak
The lifecycle assessment places this field in a declining stage, with annual filings easing back from the 2019 peak of 51 records. The recent-window growth rate stands at –39%, confirming the contraction is not purely a publication-lag artifact. R&D teams should weigh whether incremental color filter architecture work will generate protectable differentiation or whether pivoting toward adjacent enabling technologies offers better IP leverage.
Lifecycle: DeclineTop five filers hold 42% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total
BOE Technology Group, the two China Star entities (Wuhan and Shenzhen), Samsung Display, and TCL China Star collectively define the competitive frontier. The tier gap below them is pronounced, meaning mid-tier filers such as LG Display and Universal Display Corp. hold meaningful but substantially smaller positions. For a new entrant, differentiation through material chemistry (C09B, C07D) or system-level integration rather than device architecture may be the clearest path to freedom to operate.
High concentrationCo-filing is largely intra-group; one notable academic link at LG Display
The most active co-filing pair is BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. with Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., sharing 10 joint filings — a subsidiary relationship rather than an arm’s-length partnership. Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology and Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. co-file on 6 records under the same corporate umbrella. The only external academic collaboration visible in the evidence is LG Display Co., Ltd. with Yonsei University (2 records), suggesting university partnerships remain an underexploited channel for most incumbents.
Intra-group dominantUS office leads filings; China and PCT routes are secondary channels
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by China and WIPO PCT. South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan each hold smaller but non-trivial positions, consistent with the Korean and Japanese panel-maker presence in the ranking. Europe (EPO) represents a fourth major route. An applicant seeking broad geographic protection would need to prosecute actively in at least the US, China, and Korea to cover the core manufacturing and market geography.
US-led, multi-jurisdictionGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 10 |
| Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 6 |
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 5 |
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Ordos Yuansheng Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. | 3 |
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 3 |
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Beijing BOE Technology Development Co., Ltd. | 3 |
| LG Display Co., Ltd. | Yonsei University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 2 |
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Hefei BOE Zhuoyin Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Yunnan Chuangshijie Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| LG Display Co., Ltd. | Yonsei University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
BOE Technology Group leads; Nitto Denko is the most active recent entrant by momentum
Among the top-ranked filers, momentum diverges sharply: most incumbents show declining recent filing rates, while a handful of players — notably Samsung Display, Universal Display Corp., and Nitto Denko — appear as new entrants in the recent window.
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. holds the top position with 71 patent records, focused on semiconductor device classes H01L 27 and H01L 51 and OLED-specific class H10K 59. Its recent filing trend shows a decline of 35% versus the prior three-year window, consistent with the field’s broader contraction from the 2019 peak. Despite the slowdown, BOE’s accumulated position and subsidiary co-filing network (including Chengdu BOE and Beijing BOE entities) give it the deepest aggregate footprint in this space.
71 patent recordsNitto Denko Corp.
Nitto Denko Corp. holds 14 patent records and is classified as a new entrant in the most recent filing window — meaning it had no material prior-period baseline against which to measure, making its entry the sharpest momentum signal in the evidence. Unlike the panel-maker incumbents, Nitto Denko’s technology emphasis centers on optical elements (G02B 5) and OLED stack classes (H10K 50 and H10K 59), positioning it as a material and optical component specialist rather than a display fab. This differentiated technical angle may offer a clearer freedom-to-operate path than device-architecture approaches.
14 patent records| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | 11 | ▼ -35% |
| Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 5 | ▼ -85% |
| Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | 4 | ▼ -83% |
| Samsung Display Co., Ltd. | 5 | ▲ new entrant |
| Universal Display Corp. | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| Nitto Denko Corp. | 14 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches in lighting circuits and display control warrant monitoring
Several IPC branches appear at the margins of the OLED color filter corpus with relatively low record counts. These observations reflect relative sparsity compared with the dominant H01L and H10K classes; they warrant further technical scoping before being treated as validated entry points.
H05B · Electric heating and lighting circuits
With 52 records this is the largest of the lower-density branches, yet it remains sparse relative to H01L. H05B intersects with OLED color filter work through driving and efficiency optimization of white-OLED-plus-filter architectures. The top-cited patent ‘Power efficient RGBW OLED display’ signals that power-circuit co-design with color filter selection is an active technical problem. An applicant with circuit-design expertise could find room to file in this branch alongside material or pixel-structure claims, particularly given that most incumbent filings concentrate on device layer architecture.
Search this in Eureka →G02F · Optical control and modulation
G02F covers active optical control and modulation elements, appearing in 30 records — roughly one-tenth the density of H01L in this corpus. Its relevance to OLED color filter work lies in tunable or switchable filter concepts and microcavity interference effects, areas touched by the top-cited patent ‘Reducing or eliminating color change for microcavity OLED.’ Nitto Denko’s optical-elements focus (G02B) and the microcavity citation suggest a plausible technical bridge to G02F, and the low incumbent count indicates limited prior-art density for well-scoped claims in active optical modulation combined with color filter design.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route across H01L, H10K, and G02B
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 51 · Semiconductor devices | H10K 59 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | G02B 5 · Optical elements & systems | H10K 99 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. | Strong · 44 | Strong · 36 | Strong · 25 | Emerging · 6 | Emerging · 5 |
| TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. | Strong · 31 | Strong · 19 | Absent | Moderate · 11 | Moderate · 12 |
| Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | Strong · 31 | Strong · 19 | Moderate · 15 | Absent | Moderate · 7 |
| Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. | Strong · 32 | Strong · 23 | Emerging · 6 | Absent | Absent |
| Samsung Display Co., Ltd. | Strong · 18 | Strong · 18 | Moderate · 7 | Absent | Strong · 12 |
| LG Display Co., Ltd. | Strong · 26 | Strong · 21 | Absent | Emerging · 4 | Absent |
| Universal Display Corp. | Strong · 10 | Strong · 10 | Strong · 6 | Moderate · 5 | Strong · 8 |
Frequently asked questions
The evidence covers 308 patent families. Filing counts by applicant and jurisdiction are tracked at the patent-record level, so those figures can exceed the family total when a single family is filed across multiple offices or tagged to multiple classes.
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. holds the top position with 71 patent records among the hundred largest filers, ahead of Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology (46 records) and Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology (42 records).
The evidence classifies the field as in a declining stage. Annual filings peaked at 51 records in 2019 and have eased since, with recent-window growth at -39% versus the prior period. This does not preclude continued activity in adjacent or emerging sub-areas.
The United States is the leading filing jurisdiction, followed by China and WIPO PCT. South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Europe (EPO) each represent additional significant filing routes for the major incumbents.
Co-filing is dominated by intra-corporate relationships. The most active pair is BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. with its subsidiary Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (10 joint filings). The only external academic collaboration identified is LG Display Co., Ltd. with Yonsei University (2 records).
Samsung Display Co., Ltd., Universal Display Corp., and Nitto Denko Corp. all appear as new entrants in the most recent filing window, meaning they had no significant prior-period baseline. Most established incumbents — including the China Star entities — show declining recent filing rates relative to their prior three-year windows.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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