Backlight Unit and Liquid Crystal Display Having the Same

A liquid crystal display comprising:

• a liquid crystal panel for displaying image information;
• and
• a backlight unit located beneath the liquid crystal panel for supplying light to the liquid crystal panel,
• wherein the backlight unit comprises,
• a light-guide plate for guiding incident light and having diffusion patterns for emitting light upward, the diffusion patterns being formed on at least one of upper and lower surfaces of the light-guide plate;
• and
• a point light source assembly disposed on at least one side portion of the light-guide plate, the point light source assembly comprising a plurality of point-light-source elements and a support substrate, wherein the point-light-source elements are disposed on the support substrate and supply the light to the light-guide plate,
• wherein at least one edge portion of one surface of the light-guide plate adjacent to the point light source assembly comprises a first region corresponding to the point-light-source elements and a second region corresponding to a position between the point-light-source elements, and the diffusion patterns are not formed on the first region of the edge portion of the surface of the light-guide plate.