In September 2010, Nichia Corporation (“Nichia“) started a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation (“Harvatek“) concerning Harvatek‘s white LED products

On Dec. 27, 2016, Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") filed four patent infringement lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The defendants in the lawsuits are (1) TTE Technology, a US-based LCD TV distributor, and its parent company, TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Limited, a Chinese manufacturer of LCD TVs; (2) VIZIO, a US-based LCD TV maker; (3) Lowe’s Home Center LLC (“Lowe’s”), a US-based retailer of LED lighting and other products, and Lowe’s affiliated U.S. distributor, L G Sourcing, Inc.; and (4) Feit Electric Company, Inc., a US-based LED lighting manufacturer and distributor. In these lawsuits, Nichia asserts that defendants have infringed Nichia’s U.S. Patent No. 9,490,411. Nichia seeks an injunction prohibiting the defendants’ sale and distribution of infringing products. Nichia also seeks damages for defendants’ infringement.

With judgment of Dec. 22, 2016 (docket number I-15 U 31/14), the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany has confirmed the infringement of YAG Patent EP 0 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) of Nichia Corporation (“Nichia“) by Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and its German subsidiary Everlight Electronics Europe GmbH (both “Everlight“) concerning six accused white LED products.

U.S. LED manufacturer Cree has filed a lawsuit against another LED competitor MaxBrite over design patent and trademark infringement last week, reported Triangle Business Journal.

On Oct.19, 2016 and Oct. 28, 2016, Nichia  filed a request for three preliminary injunctions in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court against Everlight Electronics (“Everlight”), alleging that the white LED products “334-15/X1C5-1QSA”, „334-15/T2C2-1TVB“ and „XI3535-KT577J1-03201-000P“ manufactured by Everlight and distributed in Germany infringe Nichia's YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929).

An Arizona-based LED luminaire manufacturer Optolum is suing top U.S. LED manufacturer Cree over patent infringement, reported The News & Observer.

On October, 14, 2016, in a lawsuit filed by Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) against Tachibana Eletech Co., Ltd (“Tachibana”) and E&E Japan Co., Ltd. (“E&E”), which companies imported and/or sold Blue LEDs manufactured by a Taiwanese company, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd., (“Everlight”), the Tokyo District Court found that the importation/sale of those Blue LEDs by E&E and Tachibana constituted infringement of Nichia's patent.

San’an Opto said that the company has engaged in preliminary discussions with Osram upon a potential acquisition or partnership. However, the two parties only met once to discuss related issues so far.

On September 29, 2016, Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) filed a request for a preliminary injunction in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court against Mouser Electronics Inc. (“Mouser”), alleging that the white LED product “334-15/X1C5-1QSA” manufactured by Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Everlight”) and distributed by Mouser in Germany infringes Nichia’s YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929).

Everlight announced that it will be filing another suit to invalidate Nichia’s YAG LED patent in Germany.

Nichia’s patent infringement suit filed against the world’s third largest TV vendor TCL Multimedia (TCL) and subsidiary TTE Technology (TTE) on Aug. 8, 2016, is a significant move to prevent unpatented Chinese LED chips from entering U.S., said LEDinside analysts.

On August 8, 2016, Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") filed two patent infringement lawsuitss against TTE Technology, a U.S. based LCD TV distributor, and TCL Multimedia Technology in two district courts in U.S.

The intensity of patent wars heated up in the last two years, especially among leading manufacturers in the industry such as Cree, who has filed suits against Asian rivals from 2015-2016. In its latest case against Taiwanese LED manufacturer Unity Opto and its American client Feit Electric, the two defendants might be willing to settle the case with Cree.

Cree announced that it has received a Notice of the Initial Determination in U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") investigation No. 337-TA-947 (“Certain Light-Emitting Diode Products and Components Thereof”) in favor of Cree against respondents Feit Electric Company and its Asian supplier, Unity Opto Technology, on violations of trade laws for both patent infringement and false advertising.

Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) and Hirose Radio & Electronics, (“Hirose”), a Japanese corporation manufacturing and selling electronic appliances, have reached an agreement to settle the case which was pending between the parties in the Tokyo District Court (“The Case”). The Case was a preliminary injunctions case, in which Nichia claimed that its Japanese patents Nos. 5177317 and 5610056 (both patents relate to white LEDs using YAG phosphors and will hereafter be referred to as “Nichia YAG Patents”) were infringed by some of the LED lights imported and sold in Japan by Hirose, and sought a preliminary injunction against the importation and sale of infringing products.

A lawsuit filed by Nichia against Tachibana Eletech and E&E Japan, which companies imported and/or sold Blue LEDs manufactured by a Taiwanese company, Everlight Electronics, the Tokyo District Court found that the importation/sale of those Blue LEDs by E&E and Tachibana constituted infringement of Nichia's patent. However, Everlight refuted that it respects the court’s judgement as JP3972943 expired on July 6, 2014. Therefore, the infringement will not have negative impact on the company’s products.

On May 27, 2016, Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") filed a patent infringement lawsuit against B & Q PLC (“B&Q”), a UK-based DIY company, in the London High Court (Patents Court).

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Arima Optoelectronics Corporation (AOC) has released a statement on Thursday stating it is assessing whether Chinese competitor San’an Opto’s AlGaInP LED products had infringed its wafer bonding technology patents.

Taiwan’s largest LED die manufacturer Epistar has filed a patent infringement complaint against Epileds in Taiwan’s courts for selling infringing products to downstream suppliers, the company announced in a recent press release.

The LED backlight industry might still experience an exceptionally cool season in 2016, but breakthroughs are expected in the tube light replacement market, said Epistar Chairman B.J.Lee at the 2015 Pan Wen Yuan Prize Award Ceremony at the Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan earlier today.

In general, LED Manufacturers performed quite well over the past eight months in 2015. But competition among LED manufacturers intensified through price wars, patent disputes and fighting over distribution channel were overwhelming. A summary of recent lawsuits among these manufacturers as following:

Osram has obtained a favorable first instance judgment in a patent infringement lawsuit against the Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer ASUSTek Computer Osram had claimed that certain white LED such as those incorporated in first generation ASUS Nexus 7 tablets infringe its German patent DE 196 55 185. The District Court in Düsseldorf has awarded Osram an injunction and found that ASUS has to compensate Osram’s damage caused by the patent infringement. ASUS has filed an appeal against this judgment. Osram has initiated the provisional enforcement of the judgment against the provision of a security.