LG Display Livid Over Samsung Exec's Engineer Expletive [Updated]

An unexpected slur by a Samsung exec on rivals LG Display could result in a legal case, after Kim Hyun-suk, vice president of Samsung's digital media business, described LG's engineers as "really stupid sh*ts" at a press conference earlier this week. Asked by journalists about LG's Full HD claims for its latest 3D TV technology, the Korea Herald reports, Hyun-suk retorted "I heard that LG Display's Kwon Young-soo said its TVs are full HD, I think his engineers are really stupid sh*ts. What a lame argument with no theoretical grounds. It's just unreasonable."

Unsurprisingly, LG Display took offense at the expletive, and while the company initially planned to let the insult pass without comment, it later began preparing for legal action. "There are business ethics and practices to follow even if we are competing with each other over technological standards" a spokesperson said, "it is very disappointing and unacceptable if an executive at a respected global company humiliated its rival company's employees at an official event hurling a curse."

The contentious technology is film-type patterned retarder (FPR) 3D, as on LG's new CINEMA 3D LW5700 HDTVs. The company claims they are flicker-free and avoid the crosstalk present in Samsung's competing active-shutter 3D systems.

Update: LG Display has apparently accepted an apology from Kim Hyun-suk and is no longer planning legal action. "We spoke about the letter with our engineers" the company said in a statement, "and decided to accept the apology because we believe Samsung Electronics and the executive in question have gone through self-reflection." [Thanks Kunal!]

[via Gizmodo]