Another UAE emirate Ras Al Khaimah announced it will be rolling out a major streetlight replacement project along major roads to the airport, public parks and others, reported Khaleej Times.

There is increasing German government interference in LED and semiconductor related transactions this week, Osram’s decision to sell its general lighting business to Chinese consortium headed by IDG Capital and included lighting company Forest Lighting (MLS) has been delayed and put on hold.

Chinese investor Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) was supposed to have sealed deal between German semiconductor equipment manufacturers Aixtron on Oct. 6, 2016, but was abruptly called off by the German Economic Ministry this Monday over unspecified national security issues.

The German government has temporarily halted Chinese consortium headed by strategic investor IDG Capital Partners (IDG) to acquire Osram’s general lighting business LEDVANCE, and have put the deal under review, Reuters cited German magazine WirtschaftsWoche recent report.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released CALiPER Report 24: Photometric Testing, Laboratory Teardowns, and Accelerated Lifetime Testing of OLED Luminaires, which is the first CALiPER report evaluating the performance of OLED luminaires based on independent procurement and testing. Among the findings:

Epistar announced that it agreed to settle its patent litigation against Adamax d/b/a Newhouse Lighting (“Adamax”) pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, for infringement of Epistar’s light-emitting diode (“LED”) filament patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,346,771, 7,489,068, 7,560,738, 8,240,881, 8,344,353, 8,791,467, 9,065,022). 

On Oct. 27, 2016, Liquidleds Lighting (Liquileds) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Testrite, a Taiwan-based distributor which sells products through its retail channels like TLW, HOLA, HOLA CASA and HOLA Petite. The lawsuit alleges that Testrite infringed on Liquidleds' patent for "Method of Assembling an Airtight LED Light Bulb." (Taiwan Patent No. 1372842, which has foreign corresponding fillings in China, US, EP and Japan)

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting today announced the illumination of the Palace of Culture in Iasi, Romania with Philips’ architectural lighting. 

LEDVANCE announced a wide range of new SYLVANIA LED lighting solutions for both residential and commercial applications. Available now or in the near future, first-to-market products include an easy option for updating recessed lighting, and connected indoor/outdoor and under cabinet lighting.  The company is also launching a motion and temperature sensor – a major step toward automating intelligent light – and Energy Star® qualified LED A19 and A21 lamps that are rated at 15,000 hours, offering long life at a good value, and eligible for utility rebates.

Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced the launch of two new industry-leading[1] photocouplers, TLP2767 and TLP2367, for high-speed communications at data rates up to 50Mbps.

LG Innotek announced that it will release a programmable LED driver for wireless lighting control in the American market. The product has moderate price, but shows outstanding performance, it is expected to gain popularity as a wireless lighting control solution in the market.

The TCAT is designed to harmoniously blend flat and curved geometrics, producing a sleek, subtle contour that complements any architectural aesthetic in offices, schools, medical, and public spaces.

These 1.5W lamps provide the timeless look of an incandescent lamp with the energy efficiency of LED technology. U-LED filament LED lamps have no visible circuit boards or heat sinks, they are dimmable and provide an omnidirectional light that replicates the appearance of incandescent filament lamps.

MAXIMUS®, a home security company providing easy-to-install smart home security solutions, today launches its latest preventative security feature: message playback on detection. This new feature helps homeowners protect their homes and loved ones, even when they're not able to get to their phone, by playing pre-recorded messages or a sound when motion is detected.

At LEDforum 2016 hosted by LEDinside in late September in Taipei, Taiwan, industry insiders were all focused on innovative technologies including Quantum Dot (QD), Micro-LEDs and other new technologies. Saturation in the LED backlight market, while the LED lighting market might have high market potential, but requires specialization has ushered development of new applications in the LED industry. Some of these include small-pitch LED displays for billboards, large indoor displays, automotive LEDs, non-visible LED light (UV and IR applications), grow lights and other important emerging applications. Future technology developments include integrating QD technology with micro-LEDs to optimize LED performance.

A new infrared LED from Osram Opto Semiconductors reduces the size of lighting units for camera-based assistance systems in cars. Compared to the Platinum Dragon previously used, Synios SFH 4770S A01 offers 25 percent higher optical output and needs only about one tenth of the footprint. 

U.S. intelligence services warned Germany that a Chinese takeover of German semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Aixtron could give Beijing access to technology for military purposes, reported German paper Handelsblatt on Wednesday.

Foxconn, a long term Apple partner, might have lost its bid to assemble the glass backs in iPhone 8, as reports from Nikkei Asian Review point out Chinese sapphire manufacturers will be the major suppliers.

West Kelowna, a Canadian City will be converting 1,750 high pressure sodium streetlights to LEDs, reported Kelowna Capital News.

Smart manufacturing will be the key to upgrading the printed circuit board industry! ITRI exhibited its expertise in innovative PCB manufacturing technology at the TPCA Show 2016, displaying the High Aspect Ratio Maskless Fine Line Printing Technology and Additive Process for Printed Fine Line Circuits, as well as its Intelligent Power Module for Automotive Battery Control. ITRI's innovative technology will assist in propelling the value of both the upstream and downstream sectors of Taiwan's PCB industry, thereby solidifying the foundation in making the industry a trillion dollar one in the future.  

EPISTAR announced it signed a license agreement with Super Trend Lighting (Group) Ltd. (“SUPERTREND”) to use Epistar’s filament patents in its products. Epistar holds key intellectual property regarding the LED filament technology used in making LED filament bulbs. The LED filament patents relate to, among other things, LED filament structure(s), and light-emitting product(s) using LED filament(s). This patent portfolio covers Taiwan, China, United States, Europe and other territories.

Kateeva, the OLED production equipment leader, announced the appointment of Mark Shaw, Ph.D. as Senior Vice President of Human Resources (HR). Previously, Shaw worked at Lam Research and Applied Materials. He joins Kateeva at a time of rapid growth. He’ll build a comprehensive HR infrastructure to support the company’s accelerating global business, with strategic initiatives to attract, inspire and reward top talent, world-wide.

Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaNTM LED technology, announced that its full visible spectrum LED lamps were installed to illuminate the Sacramento-based Crocker Art Museum’s exhibition “Glass for the New Millennium: Masterworks from the Kaplan-Ostergaard Collection”.

Fulham, a leading supplier of lighting components and electronics for commercial and specialty applications, will demonstrate its newest LED lighting products for OEMs, distributors, and lighting professionals at this week’s Hong Kong International Lighting Fair. Included among the Fulham products on display will be the LumoSeries LED drivers, the HotSpot Plus LED and emergency lighting drivers, and the customizable Quik Custom linear LED drivers. Fulham will be exhibiting in booth 1C-C02.

Throughout the industry, it is widely accepted that an estimated 4% error currently exists with most LED light measurements. This 4% error is responsible for a massive loss in revenue across the industry as manufacturers and laboratories undervalue their own LEDs or send out product that does not perform as expected. Much of this 4% error traces back directly to the current source and methods being used during testing. To reduce the error and improve LED light measurements, Vektrex introduces the Performance Current Source Series. These high performance current sources are the only current sources that employ precise, accurate pulsing with microsecond rise times and low-jitter triggering. The resulting ideal current waveforms reduce uncertainty and enable accurate LED measurements with excellent measurement repeatability. 

Hubbell Lighting, a world leader in lighting innovation, announced that Litecontrol has modernized its market-leading MOD product line, which has set the standard for linear slot lighting, by delivering a full family, cost sensitive solution for general lighting in architectural spaces.

A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK… BeveLED BLOCK from USAI Lighting provides an elegant solution for those that love the industrial exposed ceiling style, but hate the exposed electrical connections. The innovative, unique design of BeveLED BLOCK completely encloses surface mounted junction boxes in concrete ceilings, creating beautiful modern spaces with high performance LED lighting.

Erik Lief a leading writer for American Council of Health (ACH) writes an analyses on earlier reports by American Medical Association..

Acuity Brands announced Peter Y. Ngai, Vice President-Technology, has received the Illuminating Engineering Society’s (IES) MEDAL in recognition of meritorious technical achievement for furthering the profession, art or knowledge of illuminating engineering. Ngai was honored during the IES 2016 National Convention held October 23-25 in Orlando, Florida, U.S..

The City of Henderson in partnership with McKinstry, a design-build company specializing in energy-based retrofits, will replace more than 6,200 light fixtures across the city with energy-saving LEDs that will pay for themselves in just over seven years.