Cree, a leader in LED lighting, announced today that it has reached a confidential settlement in its patent infringement lawsuit with Kingbright, Inc. Kingbright and Cree have agreed to a royalty bearing, worldwide license to the Cree patents-in-suit, thereby ending the lawsuit between the parties.

NEMA's Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) continued its recent volatile behavior, dropping to a neutral 50 points in April after surging to 64.7 in March from 44.4 in February. Nineteen percent of panelists reported conditions improved in April, down from 41% in March. Another 19% reported the business environment worsened in April, up from 12% in March. The vast majority, though, claimed conditions were unchanged in April, up from the 47% who held this view a month ago.

The Sohar Port and Freezone located in Middle East nation Oman, announced that it will be installing LED streetlight systems within premises of the port and freezone, reported Times of Oman.

Chico, a city in California, U.S. will be replacing its streetlights with more efficient LED lights in the next four to six weeks, reported The Orion.

It has been confirmed that Philips Lighting will be issuing an IPO instead of being put up for sale, Philips will gradually sell more than 25% of its stake in the lighting business. Additionally, the company’s IPO announcement will disappoint several investors, such as Go Scale Capital, Melrose, and Apollo to name a few that had previously been interested in submitting bidding proposals. The company’s lighting arm in Thailand has also decided to shut down its fluorescent bulb factory as market penetration of LEDs escalate in the local market to more than 34%.

India’s national LED program Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA), will be implemented nationwide by 2019, said the country’s Minister for Power and Coal, Piyush Goyal recently.

MLS released its 1Q16 earnings last week, reporting the company’s revenue of 9.15% year on year (YoY) growth at RMB 819 million (US $125.8 million).

Cree announces that Darren Jackson, most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Advance Auto Parts (AAP), a position he held from January 2008 to January 2016, has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective May 3, 2016.

Today Lumileds and Arrow Electronics announced a strategic agreement for the global distribution of Lumileds comprehensive portfolio of application optimized LEDs including high power, mid power, low power, CoB, color and UV LEDs as well as the infinitely configurable Matrix Platform. The agreement aligns with both companies’ dedication to providing customers with responsive, accelerated service and reliable, high performance solutions.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) latest sustainability campaign is offering discounts of up to 25% to selected brand LED bulbs to urge local residents to switch to more energy efficient and environmental friendly lights, reported Gulf News.

A senior Samsung Electronic TV business official reaffirmed plans that the company would not be making OLED TVs in the near future, and will be focusing on quantum dot (QD) TVs next year, according to a Korea Herald report.

 Revenues of $78 million, down 21% compared with the same period last year GAAP net loss per share of $0.40 and Non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.15 Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of negative $2.1 million

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that ANSI Accredited Standards Committee C78 reaffirmed ANSI C78.42 High-Pressure Sodium Lamps. This standard sets forth the physical and electrical requirements for HPS lamps, to ensure performance and interchangeability. The data given also provides the basis for the electrical requirements for ballasts and ignitors, as well as the lamp-related requirements for luminaires.  

Royal Philips announced on Tuesday its lighting business’s “historical” Initial Public Offering (IPO), which will result in the listing of the lighting business on the Dutch bourse , and aims to sell at least 25% of its shares in the lighting company. The announcement ended contending Chinese and foreign investors takeover bid of the lighting business.

Philips confirmed on Tuesday it will be spinning off its Philips Lighting through Initial Public Offering (IPO), reported Reuters.

In October of 2015 the City of Albuquerque in New Mexico, U.S., through the Department of Municipal Development and Department of Accounting and Financial Services/ Purchasing Division, released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the evaluation and implementation of energy efficiency and reduced maintenance project for city owned street lighting. After much review of all proposals received, Citelum Group was selected as the winning bidder. As part of their contract, Citelum will evaluate and develop a plan to convert approximately 19,000 city-owned street lights to LED.

LG Display will be investing another KRW 140 billion (US $123 million) into mass producing OLED panels for lighting during first half of 2017, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Cree a leader in LED lighting, announced that it has reached a confidential settlement in its patent infringement lawsuit with Harvatek. Harvatek has agreed to a royalty bearing, worldwide license to the Cree patents-in-suit, thereby ending the lawsuit between the parties. Harvatek will pay Cree a license issue fee and ongoing royalties as part of the license agreement.

Dutch lighting giant Philips will be shutting down its only fluorescent bulb factory in Thailand by next quarter and lay off in total 200 workers at the plant, reported The Nation.

As previously communicated, Philips continues to simultaneously prepare for an initial public offering (IPO) or a private sale of Philips Lighting. With equity markets’ sentiment improving compared to the first couple of months of the year, an IPO increasingly appears a more likely outcome, subject to further market developments and other relevant circumstances.

“The second quarter was outstanding. We have achieved the best result in more than twenty quarters. And for the first time in ten quarters, revenue showed a noticeable increase nominally as well as on a comparable basis. This shows that our innovation and growth strategy is taking us in the right direction. Osram will successfully continue along this path. The foundation couldn’t be stronger,” said Olaf Berlien, Chief Executive Officer of OSRAM Licht AG.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, today announced revenue of $367 million for its third quarter of fiscal 2016, ended March 27, 2016. This compares to revenue of $410 million reported for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, and $436 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2016. GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2016 was $152 thousand, or $0.00 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $476 thousand, or $0.00 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2015. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2016 was $17 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 of $25 million, or $0.22 per diluted share.

Frans van Houten, CEO: “Philips’ first-quarter 2016 results reflect solid comparable sales growth across our HealthTech businesses and our LED Lighting business, bolstered by the successful launch of several new products. We also delivered continued operational improvements throughout the company, driven by higher volume and improved product mix. Our overall performance strengthened, supported by the ongoing benefits of our multi-year Accelerate! transformation program, despite challenging macro-economic conditions in several markets.

Authorities of Vietnam capital Hanoi plans to roll out LED streetlight upgrade across the city, and has recently called on municipal agencies to scale up installation of LED lights in public lighting system in the locality to save energy, reported Vietnam Plus.

Today, the U.S. Senate passed the Energy Policy Modernization Act by a vote of 85-12. This vote comes four months after a December 3, 2015, vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on its comprehensive energy legislation, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act.

On April 18, 2016, United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered judgment in accordance with the jury’s verdict in Enplas Display Device Corporation v. Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (N.D. Cal., Case No. 3:13-cv-05038-NC) that EDD’s sale of light diffusion lenses #9854D, #9854E and #9879 in Japan and Taiwan induced unnamed parties to infringe claims 1, 6, 33, 34 and 35 of United States Patent No. 6,473,554 (USP ‘554) and its sale of those lenses and lenses #4922 and #9853A in Japan and Taiwan induced unnamed parties to infringe claim 20 of United States Patent No. 6,007,209 (USP ‘209) (under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b)). 

Lighting leader OSRAM SYLVANIA is announcing an exclusive partnership in North America with Senmatic A/S in Denmark to bring total greenhouse system solutions to the horticulture market that enhance operational performance and offer optimal lighting. OSRAM SYLVANIA will work directly with Senmatic A/S in the design, development and distribution of high-quality horticulture LED fixtures sold under the OSRAM brand.

Hubbell Control Solutions announces the appointment of three new US Regional Sales Managers. Greg Ortt takes over the Southeast states, while Joe Osterwyk handles the North Central states and Mark Westgate takes the Western states. Hubbell Control Solutions leverages a history of innovation to create future-proof lighting controls.

GSR Capital announced the formation of a US$ 1 billion cornerstone fund, "GSR Go Global Fund", with Limited Partners from Chinese leading high-tech companies, Taiwan industrial group, and world renowned entrepreneurs. The aim is to invest and build a world-class lighting industry through global acquisitions of leading LED lighting assets. The fund has already been oversubscribed and agreements have been signed by anchor Limited Partners. Industry experts Frank Fan and Jianghua Su will join the core general partner team.

At its meeting today, the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG decided key changes in the composition of the managing board. In line with the company’s stronger technology focus, the supervisory board appointed Stefan Kampmann, 52, as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with effect from July 1, 2016. “We are happy to gain an experienced top manager and technology expert for Osram’s managing board,” said Peter Bauer, chairman of the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG. “His experience will give additional momentum to our innovation and growth initiative.” The supervisory board has also decided, for reasons of differing views regarding the strategic direction of the company and in best mutual agreement with Klaus Patzak, to launch a structured process to find a successor for the position of Chief Financial Officer.