Taiwan-based LED packager Everlight announced that the High Court of Australia has rendered the final judgment on August 7, 2019, denying Nichia’s appeal request. The Court has decided that the asserted claims of Nichia’s Australia patent 720234 are invalid. The Court has affirmed that Everlight’s products of Arrow did not infringe Nichia’s patent. Everlight affirmed the result of judgment and won the final victory by defending its customers' rights and interests. Earlier in March, Everlight reported that the Federal Court of Austral...

Intellectual properties are crucial for technology developers and manufacturers. As a result, the disputes for patented technologies continue to go on. This week, Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) announced its victory of patent infringement litigation and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has begun investigation for the patent infringement case raised by UC Santa Barbara. MCC reported that on July 31 it obtained a judgement recognizing the infringement of its patent for red phosphor in China by the defendants, U.S.-based Intem...

In December 2018, Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Mouser Electronics for selling LED products that infringe Seoul’s patent. Everlight later responded in January 2019 that it would continue to guard its right and claim patent invalidity against Seoul Semiconductor. However, Seoul’s latest announcement reported that the District Court of Düsseldorf in Germany issued a permanent injunction against the sales of the accused products manufactured by Everlight and ordered the distributor to recall the pr...

Velodyne Lidar announced that it has filed a patent infringement complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against Hesai Photonics Technology and Suteng Innovation Technology, which is also known as RoboSense. (Image: Velodyne Lidar) Velodyne Lidar accused the Hesai and RoboSense of violating of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 which makes unfair methods of competition and importation of certain products into the United States unlawful. Earlier this week, Velodyne also filed patent infringement complaints against Hesai and RoboS...

US Santa Barbara announced that the Regents of the University of California filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and lawsuits against five major retailers, Walmart, Target, Ikea, Amazon.com and Bed Bath & Beyond, for the unauthorized distribution of UC Santa Barbara’s patented filament LED lighting technology. UC Santa Barbara and its legal counsel, Nixon Peabody, have identified that Walmart, Target, Ikea, Amazon.com and Bed Bath & Beyond as the five major retailers who represent a large cross-section of the...

LiDAR developer LeddarTech announces that its patent infringement case against Phantom Intelligence was settled favorably in the Federal Court of Canada. In December 2015 LeddarTech challenged Phantom Intelligence for the illegal use of its patented LiDAR sensing technology protected by Canadian Patent No. 2,710,212, entitled “Detection and Ranging Methods and Systems” and relating to systems and methods for acquiring an optical signal and converting it into a digital trace. The patent is a core driver of LeddarTech’s long-established intel...

Nichia announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against Global Value Lighting (GVL) a US-based manufacturer of LED lighting products. Meanwhile, the Japan-based LED maker also confirms its patent in China. In the lawsuit against Global Value Lighting (GVL), Nichia has asserted a filament LED patent, U.S. Patent No. 9,752,734, as well as 5 patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,337,493, 6,870,191, 7,345,297, 7,804,101 and 9,324,791) that cover the design of LED chips. N...

Lumileds announced on July 23rd that the Superior Court of California has issued permanent Injunction against Elec-Tech International (ETI) for misappropriation of trade secrets, prohibiting ETI and its affiliates from using, disclosing, licensing, or selling Lumileds’ epitaxy technology trade secrets. The injunction also prohibits ETI from manufacturing, distributing, importing, exporting, or selling any products that use certain of ETI’s own epitaxy growth recipes that the jury concluded were produced using Lumileds’ trade secrets. In August...

Nichia announced that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on July 19, 2019 against Lighting Science Group (LSG), a US-based manufacturer of LED lighting products, as well as its affiliates, Health and VividGro. In its lawsuits, Nichia has asserted 13 patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,838,693, 7,348,602, 7,750,337, 8,120,057, 8,309,375, 8,309,948, 8,344,402, 8,530,250, 8,728,916, 8,796,721, 9,444,011, 9,865,773 and 10,276,751) against the three entities. The patents cover various manufactur...

Seoul Semiconductor (Seoul) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Conrad Electronic, a European retailer of electronic products, in the District Court of Düsseldorf in Germany. Seoul reported that the LEDs in backlit mobile phones sold by Conrad are infringing the company’s patent for LED light extraction technology. The patent covers fundamental LED chip fabrication technology to extract light efficiently, significantly enhancing brightness. Conrad is currently selling hundreds of different models of Korean, U.S. and China mobile phones. Ac...

The US International Trade Commission has concluded a patent infringement investigation according to the complaint filed by Philips Lighting (now named Signify) in 2017. The Commission ruled Feit Electric Company, Lowe’s Companies and Satco did not infringe Philips Lighting’s patents but ruled against MSi Lighting, reported lightED magazine. In 2017, Philips Lighting filed a complaint accusing nine lighting companies of infringing its patents. The accused companies included members of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAE...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, against The Factory Depot Advantages, a distributor of Philips TV display. In its complaint, Seoul asserts that a Philips LED TV display being sold by this distributor infringe ten patents regarding manufacturing of LED backlighting unit. Particularly, these patented technologies encompass LED TV backlight unit system for enhancing Color Gamut of LCD displays, and LED lenses for providing uniform ...

Seoul Semiconductor continues to expand its European enforcement. The Korean company announced that that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany in the District Court of Düsseldorf against Leuchtstark Vertriebs GmbH, a European LED lighting distributor, asserting infringement of Seoul’s LED patents. Seoul is currently investigating Leuchstark’s OEM/ODM manufacturers as well as other distributors. In its complaint, Seoul asserts that this distributor is selling a “MEGAMAN” brand lighting product that infringes...

Velodyne announced that it has won a patent lawsuit filed by its competitor Quanergy. The US Patent Trial and Appeals Board ruled the validity of Velodyne’s US Patent 7,969,558 on May 23, 2019. According to Velodyne, the patent is related to a LiDAR based 3D point cloud measuring system used for Autonomous Vehicles, ADAS, Robotic vision, and other diverse applications. “Velodyne Lidar is the inventor of the surround view LiDAR and we were confident that our patent would be upheld,” said Marta Hall, President of Velodyne Lidar. &ldqu...

Jiaxing Super Lighting Electric Appliance(“Super Lighting”), together with its affiliate Obert, the North American division of Super Lighting, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against MaxLite. Super Lighting and Obert accused MaxLite of infringing Super Lighting’s patents, including U.S. Patent Nos. 9,689,536; 9,841,174; 9,723,662; 10,208,897; 9,807,826; and 9,897,265, with its LED tube products.  Super Lighting and Obert share a parent company calle...

Seoul Semiconductor filed a patent infringement lawsuit for infringement of its LED driver patents against SATCO Products (SATCO). Seoul Semiconductor claimed that SATCO is selling various LED lighting products that infringe 11 patents of Seoul Semiconductor’s LED driver technology, including U.S. Patent 7,081,722, U.S. Patent 9,807,828; U.S. Patent 8,513,899; and U.S. Patent 8,716,946. The asserted LED driver patents are widely used in replacement bulbs in the form of incandescent or fluorescent lamps, wall-mount lights, and ceiling ...

On March 26, 2019, a ruling of the District Court of Düsseldorf, Germany, (docket number 4a O 72/17) found that white LED used as flashlights in certain smartphones manufactured by HTC Corporation infringed Nichia’s YAG patent EP 0 936 682 (DE 697 02 929). The decision was also rendered against HTC’s affiliates HTC Europe and HTC Germany as well as against Digital River Ireland, which operates HTC’s European web shop. Nichia is awarded damages as compensation for the patent infringement for the period from June 30, 2007 until ...

Jiangsu Bree Optronics, a Chinese phosphor manufacturer, claimed patent invalidity against The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan, who changed the licensing scheme for its comprehensive patent on red phosphor since October 2018. In October 2018, NIMS announced a new licensing scheme to the patents on the nitride red phosphor by the name of CASN, SCASN or 1113 phosphor (S/CASN phosphor). Originally, companies manufacturing LED devices were able to purchase S/CASN phosphors from phosphor manufacturing companies holding NIM...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has concluded a patent infringement lawsuit as Mouser, an international electronic component distributor agreed to stop selling certain LED product manufactured by Everlight in Japan. (Image: Pixabay) February 2018, Seoul Semiconductor filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, accusing the LED product manufactured by Everlight and sold by Mouser of infringing an LED patent of Seoul Semiconductor’s affiliate. The company announced on February 21 that it agreed to withdraw the lawsuit as M...

Japanese LED maker Nichia announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against Corlant, a distributor of automotive aftermarket parts under the brand of Valenti on January 7th, 2019. Nichia request an injunction and compensation for the damages caused by the patent infringement. Nichia accused Corlant of distributing an automotive LED position lamp which Nichia believes infringes its patents JP5800452 and JP6320582 in relation to PSS technology*. Nichia seeks to protect its patents and other intellectual property right...

The LED filament lamp market began 2019 with a patent lawsuit. Taiwan-based flexible LED filament developer Liquidleds filed a patent infringement lawsuit against French lighting company GIRARD SUDRON, requesting a halt of further sale of patent-infringing products. (Image: Liquidleds) Liquidleds on December 20, 2018 filed with the Mannheim Court of Germany a lawsuit accusing European lighting company GIRARD SUDRON of manufacturing and selling products that infringe Liquidleds’ patents in regard to flexible LED filament and filament b...

Everlight reported that it will continue to guard it’s the rights of the company and its customers in response to Seoul Semiconductor’s victory announcement about the patent infringement lawsuit in Germany. In December, Seoul Semiconductor has reported that it won the lawsuit in Germany which was filed in March 2017. Seoul Semiconductor accused Mouser Electronic of distributing Everlight’s LED products that infringed a patent of Seoul Semiconductor. The German Court judged in favor of Seoul Semiconductor and ordered to recall the accused products...

Nichia and Seoul Semiconductor, the two LED manufacturers in Japan and South Korea, have respectively reported updates regarding their intellectual property issues with the Taiwan-based company, Everlight. Nichia has confirmed its YAG patent in Germany as Everlight and its German subsidiary WOFI have withdrawn their appeal in November. The Japanese company then requested Everlight and WOFI to provide the rendering account information for related white LED products. Nichia is going to request compensation for the patent infringement from Everlight based o...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that it won a patent litigation against Everlight in Germany. The patent involved in this litigation relates to an LED package structure for thermal dissipation. Everlight purchased this patent from a U.S. company in 2017, and subsequently brought a patent lawsuit against Seoul in the Mannheim Court of Germany. In December 2018, the Mannheim Court ruled in favor of Seoul Semiconductor and ordered that Everlight to bear the statutory costs of the court proceeding. (Image: Seoul Semiconductor) “Seoul has invested approximat...

Epistar announced that it has achieved a victory in the petitions filed by Lowe’s Home Center with the United States Patent and Trademark Office which challenged the validity of five Epistar patents related to Epistar’s innovative LED filament bulb technology. The five patents are U.S. Patent No. 6,346,771, 7,560,738, 8,492,780, 8,587,020, and 8,791,467. These five patents are the subject of a pending patent infringement lawsuit brought by Epistar against Lowe’s, filed on April 28, 2017 in the United States District Court. Lowe’s petit...

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation announced that it obtained a judgment recognizing an infringement for its red phosphor patent in China by Yantai Shield Advanced Materials (Shield). Mitsubishi Chemical has filed a suit in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court on January 23, 2015, accusing the Chinese company of infringement for the patents (No. ZL200480040967.7, No. ZL200710199440.4, and No. ZL201110066517.7) that are related to red phosphor. The patents are owned by Mitsubishi and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). Mitsubishi...

Nichia has announced that WOFI (Leuchten Wortmann & Filz), Everlight’s German subsidiary has withdrawn its appeal against the judgment of the Düsseldorf District Court concerning the YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) of Nichia.

In response to Nichia’s announcement of the final result of the patent lawsuit in Germany, Everlight reported that Nichia’s patent in Europe has expired in 2017 and that the result does not affect Everlight’s current products.

The patent lawsuit between Japanese LED producer Nichia and Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight in Germany has finalized on October 1, 2018.

Taiwanese LED package company Everlight and Japanese LED producer Nichia have continued their dispute regarding the patent of YAG. On October 1st 2018, the Supreme Court of the United State has confirmed the invalidity of Nichia’s assertions about its YAG patents.