The ongoing patent lawsuit between Taiwanese LED packaging manufacturer Everlight and Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia heats up. The two companies have filed lawsuits in Japan, Taiwan, Germany, the U.S. and China. General Manager of Legal Affairs and Intellectual Properties at Nichia, Katsuyuki Akutagawa attended a press conference in Taiwan on September 13th. He stated that Nichia will no longer be passive during this dispute but fight back against Everlight’s patent infringement.

Nichia company representatives arrived in Taiwan today to hold a press conference expressing their decision to fight back against Everlight patent infringement allegations.

Katsuyuki Akutagawa pointed out that in August of this year, Everlight released a press release stating that the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) has upheld its previous decision to render Nichia’s blue LED patent JP 2780691 invalid. Nichia has since dropped the lawsuit. Everlight has initiated 28 patent nullification procedures against Nichia in Japan, China, Germany, and Taiwan. The judgment is not final and can be appealed. With Everlight issuing yet another patent infringement case against Nichia, the Japanese manufacturer has decided to fight back.

Nichia had previously filed a lawsuit against Everight and the company’s distributers for infringing on the YAG patent (EP 936 682 and DE 697 02 929). Düsseldorf District Court in Germany ruled in favor of Nichia on September 3rd. The court ordered Everlight to recall and destroy all products involved in the case. On September 11th, Nichia filed a patent infringement lawsuit at the United States District Court for the Easter District of Texas for U.S. patent no. 7,295,587.

Nichia expressed that if patent infringement by Everlight continues, no matter the country, Nichia will go through the justice system in order to protect the company’s intellectual property rights.