Highlights this week:

The LED industry was embroiled in its own storm of legal disputes, as blizzards engulfed certain parts of the Northern hemisphere this week. Nichia clinches a hard won victory against Everlight in the Eastern District of Texas this week, the court uphold its claim that Everlight had infringed its 250 patent. However, Everlight was able to bag a win in an earlier Michigan court ruling that has invalidated two of Nichia’s key YAG patents.

Taiwanese LED manufacturers have been rather busy in legal courts. Harvatek for instance has countered Cree’s patent infringement lawsuit, by suing the U.S. company of infringing its white LED chip package patents. Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI’s) lawsuit against its former CTO and founder of PlayNitride Charles (Yun-li) Lee for selling company secrets to San’an Opto has also caught attention among local media.

Turning to the European and U.S. market, LEDinside offers an in-depth analyses of the potential impact of CFIUS blocked sales of Lumileds to Go Scale Capital. As Lumileds searches for a new buyer, Go Scale Capital is also hunting for potential LED assets to acquire in the near future. Different market research organizations and media have tried to explain the cause of the called off deal, some have speculated hacking vulnerability of smart lights might have been a reason, while others have pointed to sensitive technology related in the automobile sector. Things will remain murky until CFIUS declassifies the case.

Another important development, we’d like to highlight this week is the U.S. Supreme Court has approved FERC to offer regulations in the future that offer incentives to customers and consumers that cut energy consumption during peak periods. We believe this is a positive and encouraging development for LED sector, and might even benefit smart lighting manufacturers.

On the other hand NEMA has been rather upset with the California Energy Commission’s decision to push for more stringent color temperature and energy efficiency standards, which could impede the sales of low quality LED bulbs in the local market, and raise manufacturing costs.

Editor recommendations

1. U.S. Blocked Sales of Lumileds Shakes up LED Industry
2. Austrian Company LUMITECH Licenses Seoul Semiconductor Human Centric Lighting Patents
3. Toshiba Semiconductor Business Restructure Attracts Interested LED Chip Business Buyers
4. U.S. Supreme Court Approves FERC Regulations that Offer Incentives to Customers that Cut Energy Consumption
5. Philips Q4 Revenue Performance Hurt by Termination of Lumileds Sale
6. Undeterred by Failed Acquisition of Lumileds, GO Scale Capital Still on the Lookout for LED Investments
7. Samsung Forecasts Flash LED Market Demands in 2016 to Match 2015 Levels
8. Harvatek Sues Cree for LED Package Patent Infringement
9. [Breaking News] Nichia Wins Patent Lawsuit against Everlight in the Eastern District of Texas
10. Everlight’s Recent Patent Dispute Wins and Losses against Nichia
11. Lextar Focuses on Niche Markets and Eight LED Market Trends

Innovative technology

• Smart Lighting Designs in LCD Backlight Proximity Sensors

Government projects

1. CEC Implements New LED Lighting Standards despite Objections Raised by NEMA
2. DOE Announces Lighting Technology Awardees of SBIR-STTR Grants
3. LED Bulb Prices in India down 10%
4. A Michigan City Rolls out LED Streetlight Upgrade Project

Industry news

1. Osram Offers Consumers a Solution for Verifying Pirated and Authentic Xenon Headlights
2. Philips Assigns Jean Botti as Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer
3. GPI Files Lawsuit against Former CTO for Stealing and Transferring Trade Secrets
4. PlayNitride Founder and Former GPI CTO Retorts Trade Secret Case
5. Japan Display Announces Mass Production of OLED Panels in 2018
6. LED Manufacturers Received in Total RMB 1.2B Subsidies from Chinese Government in 2015
7. Chinese Mobile Maker TECHNO to Light up Nigeria Communities with Solar LED Streetlights
8. Revolution Lighting Technologies Partners up with Distributor Rexel Holdings USA
9. Memoori: Bus-Based Lighting Controls Reduce Operating Costs
10. NEMA Claims CEC LED Color Temperature Requirements will Raise Bulb Costs
11. NDRC Estimates CEC New Lighting Standards to Cut State Energy Bill by More than US $400M
12. New York Town Considers Installing Warm White LED Streetlights
13. Ripple Associates to Sell Products of Deco Lighting in Florida
14. LEDucation Provides Abundant CEU Educational Sessions for its 10th Anniversary Event
15. TTI Wins Distribution Opportunity of Products from Rohm Semiconductor
16. Bulbs.com Now Sells the Snap LED Light Bulb

New products

1. Cree’s Outdoor Luminaires and Down Lights are ready to Ship
2. Finnish Textile Giant Finlayson Launches LED Fabric Lights
3. ComfyLight Launches Campaign on Kickstarter for its Smart LED Light
4. MechaTronix Introduces LED Pin Fin Coolers
5. Avertronics Introduces Panel Light System with BLE Modules
6. Grunzell Illuminates Singapore-based Logistics with LED High Bays
7. Noribachi Adds New Linear LED Lights to its Product Portfolio
8. Green Creative Unveils ENERGY STAR Certified 60W Incadescnet Replacement LEDs
9. Power Integrations Extends Product Portfolio with New LED Driver ICs for Multiple LED Driver Topologies
10. NTL Lemnis Launches New Track Light for Retail Space Illumination
11. LG Display to Supply OLEDs for Furniture Applications
12. Waterproof LED Dimming Power Supply from MEAN WELL Enables Dimming Application
13. EpiTop Announces Record High Power DUV LEDs

Lighting projects

1. Jimmy Kimmel Live Show Brightened up with Christian Hibbard LED Lighting Designs
2. Texas Rangers to Install Eaton Ephesus LED Lights in Globe Life Park Stadium
3. The Middle Ring Expressway in Suzhou Lit with LEDs from Osram
4. Eaton to Light up Hockey All-Star Games with Ephesus LED Systems
5. San Francisco Bay Bridge Lit with LED Lighting from Philips by Artist Leo Villareal