Advanced Television

Israeli ‘spies’ charged with OLED secrets theft

June 28, 2012

By Chris Forrester

The Korea Times is reporting that six key South Korean workers employed by Orbotech, an Israel-based company (although registered on New York’s NASDAQ) have been charged with leaking vital portions of the technologies used in the manufacture of Samsung’s Active-Matrix OLEDs and LG’s White-OLED systems.

Local reports say the technologies are covered under South Korean law as ‘core national industrial technologies’. Prosecutors allege that the suspects have taken photographs of circuit diagrams on several occasions between November 2011 and January this year. The Orbotech staffers were working at the Samsung and LG plants on Orbotech-supplied equipment. The prosecutors allege that the accused removed images on memory sticks which they hid in wallets, shoes and belts and then smuggled out of the factories.

These documents, say the Koreans, are alleged to have found their way to rival companies in China and Taiwan via Orbotech’s local offices in these countries.

Orbotech has, as yet, not made a comment on the allegations.

Categories: Articles, Production, UHD