The California Energy Commission adopted first-in-the-nation energy standards for the next generation of light bulbs. The standards cover small-diameter directional lamps, often used in track lighting, and general purpose light-emitting diodes - commonly called LEDs - used to replace typical existing home lighting.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight reported mixed results in several patent lawsuits rulings against Japanese manufacturer Nichia.

Nichia announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has issued a decision holding that Everlight Electronics and Everlight Americas (collectively, “Everlight”) have infringed three Nichia patents. The court upheld patent infringement claims that Nichia filed against Everlight in 2013.

The Texas Rangers announced that the club has entered into an agreement with Eaton's Ephesus Lighting to implement an advanced LED system for the field lights at Globe Life Park in Arlington beginning with the 2016 season.

Scarsdale Village, a town in New York, U.S. is considering to convert its 2,000 streetlights to warm colored LED ones, reportedScarsdale10583.com.

On Jan. 26, 2016, Harvatek announced it has entrusted Devlin Law Firm LLC to represent it in a patent infringement case against Cree that has been filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California . The patent in suit is US 6,841,934.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) made history again today when it set minimum energy efficiency standards for small diameter directional light bulbs used for accent, spot and track lighting that will be the most stringent in the world. The reflector bulbs, which are less than 2.25 inches in diameter, are most commonly found in retail stores, museums, and hotels, and increasingly in new and remodeled homes.

In a company statement, former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) and founder of PlayNitride, Yun-Li (Charles) Lee has refuted GPI’s allegations of selling the company’s key technologies to Chinese LED manufacturer San’an Opto, reported TechNews.

Taiwanese LED epiwafer manufacturer Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) has filed a lawsuit against its former Chief Technology Officer Yun-Li Lee for stealing and selling trade secrets to Chinese competitors, and applying acquired GPI technology in his startup company PlayNitride.

LEDinside surveyed 31 listed LED manufacturers announcements made in 2015 on the website Chinfo, the designated information disclosure website assigned by Notice of China Securities Regulatory Commission. We found 11 companies (including certain company subsidiaries) received subsidies totaling a striking RMB 1.18 billion (US $179 million).

Saignaw, a city located in Michigan, U.S. has started to replace 6,400 city streetlights with LEDs, which is estimated to cost the city $ 1.8 million, reported MLive.

Osram headlight lamps are continually being copied illegally by product pirates. To protect consumers from low-quality copies the lighting manufacturer has now developed its own trust program. Thanks to innovative two-step security checks, purchasers can easily verify whether the lamp they have bought is an Osram original that has been manufactured in accordance with international quality and safety standards.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) called on the California Energy Commission (CEC) again today to ensure that California consumers have access to the most efficient, cost-effective, and preferred LED bulbs currently on the market. A proposal under consideration at the CEC that could be voted on as early as January 27, 2016, if approved, will be the first instance in which the CEC pursues regulatory action that will reduce potential energy savings, increase the cost of energy-saving products for California consumers, and make it less likely that California consumers will want to buy these products.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, a leader in advanced LED lighting technology solutions, announced it will partner with leading national distributor of electrical supplies and services, Rexel Holdings USA for the sale of its LED lighting solutions. Revolution Lighting's LED product to be offered by Rexel Holdings USA and its divisions, Rexel, Rexel Enery Solutions, Gexpro, Platt and Capitol Light to its customers within the industrial, residential and commercial markets.

Currency-comparable order intake up 15%, driven by North America, China and Western Europe Adjusted EBITA1) improved 50 basis points to 11.9% of sales and amounted to EUR 842 million EBITA amounted to EUR 263 million, or 3.7% of sales• Net loss of EUR 39 million, impacted by one-time charges including previously announced pension de-risking, compared to net income of EUR 134 million in Q4 2014 Free cash flow of EUR 740 million, compared to EUR 559 million in Q4 2014 Philips Lighting separation process on track

The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) authority to design rules and incentives that allow electricity customers to get paid for reducing consumption during periods of high energy demand. The decision keeps the door open for important clean energy resources to compete with traditional fossil plants in regional energy markets and save customers money on their electricity bills.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science has awarded six Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)-Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants to proposals targeting advances in solid-state lighting (SSL) technology. The six Phase I Release 1 grants will explore the technical merit and commercial potential of different innovative concepts or technologies that are expected to contribute to the achievement of the price and performance goals described in DOE’s SSL R&D Plan. 

Philips decision to sell Lumileds to Chinese financial group Go Scale Capital has taken a sharp turn. The business deal was abruptly halted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), due to unknown concerns. Philips and Go Scale Capital has been forced to call off the deal, which has sent shockwaves throughout the market and caused new changes in manufacturers’ competition race.

Toshiba is considering to sell its less profitable semiconductor businesses including its System LSI business to concentrate resources in advanced NAND, flash memory, and nuclear power generators and other coal fire equipment, according to a recent Nikkei report.

Chinese mobile phone manufacturer TECHNO has launched a project called “Light up Ikeja”, and donated solar-powered streetlights to the local community in the West African state.

Last week Samsung denied plans of implementing unpaid leave for its LED business sector, and in an act to seemingly to quell negative rumors regarding its LED business, the company unveiled its latest mid-power LED package LM561B+ for high quality color performance last Thursday.

GO Scale Capital and Royal Philips announced that the parties have terminated their March 2015 agreement for GO Scale Capital to acquire 80.1% of Royal Philips' LED lighting components and automotive lighting business, Lumileds. After close to one year of best efforts by GO Scale Capital and Royal Philips to obtain approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in United States (CFIUS), the parties have been unable to resolve CFIUS' unspecified concerns.         

LED bulb procurement prices in Madhya Pradesh, located in central India, have dropped another 10% from INR 73 per bulb (US $1.08) to INR 64.41 per unit, according to an official statement on Sunday.

Japanese OLED panel manufacturer Japan Display announced it will be mass producing OLED panels in 2018, which has led many tech media including Engadget and Apple Rumors to speculate Apple might be launching an OLED screened phone in the near future.

Seoul Semiconductor a global leading LED components manufacturer from Korea, and the Austrian company LUMITECH, a leading manufacturer of components for Human Centric Lighting announced a licensing agreement for PI-LED technology patents. These patents govern the industrial trade mark rights of LUMITECH’s PI-LED technology, which can implement tunable white from 2.500 to 7.000K with perfect colour rendering in a high and constant efficiency. Based on the license agreement, Seoul Semiconductor has the right to offer tunable white components based on the leading PI-LED technology, worldwide.

This has been a turbulent week for the LED industry. Philips announced just a few hours ago that it has terminated the sales of Lumileds to Go Scale Capital, the company was forced to abort the US $3.3 billion business transaction, due to opposition raised by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The company probably has a potential buyer lined up, and it will be worth observing who the new owner of Lumileds will be.

Royal Philips announced that Philips and GO Scale Capital have terminated the agreement pursuant to which the consortium led by GO Scale Capital would acquire an 80.1% interest in Lumileds.

*General Lighting market is projected to have annual 9.5% growth until 2020, while automotive lighting is to grow at 4% per year.   German lighting manufacturer Osram is confident that its large investors will support its new strategy of investing in general LED lighting market, reported Reuters.

A research team from Sheffield University has recently published there latest findings of growing LEDs on semi-polar GaN or sapphire on Applied Physics Letter recently.

When the LED industry speaks about emerging markets, India, Russia, and Middle East countries are probably the top three markets that pop up in manufacturers’ minds. Rarely, do people think about testing the waters in the African market, but one Hong Kong LED lighting manufacturer has made its way into Nigeria.