In April 2012, Everlight  filed for declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement of Nichia’s U.S. patents related to white LEDs, including U.S. Patent Nos. 5998925 and 7531960.  These two patents are directed to YAG phosphor being used with blue LED chip to emit white light, and its phosphor concentration.  The jury before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan found on April 22, 2015 that all asserted claims of these patents are invalid for obviousness and/or lack of enablement. 

Everlight pays Nichia a total of US $100,000 as a sanction ordered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan for its violations of a previous order. The litigation is captioned Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Emcore Corp. v. Nichia Corp. and Nichia America Corp., Case No. 4:12-cv-11758 GAD-MKM (E.D. Mich.). Trial in this case is scheduled for October 2014.