CIE recommend the use of LAB for paints/dyes/surfaces, and LUV for displays.
I don't know why. I just know they do.
If I had to guess, it would be that LUV is designed for additive mixing, and LAB is not, but that is a guess educated by some dimly remembered early highschool physics along with 4th grade art lessons.
This is a common misconception; both were recommended because they performed equally well on available data at the time [1]. While CIELUV does have the advantage that additive mixtures fall on straight lines in its chromaticity diagram, it does poorly at predicting color differences and has a flawed adaptation transform, so CIELAB is generally preferred.
I don't know why. I just know they do.
If I had to guess, it would be that LUV is designed for additive mixing, and LAB is not, but that is a guess educated by some dimly remembered early highschool physics along with 4th grade art lessons.