Illumination Devices (www.illuminationdevices.com), an established innovator and manufacturer of high performance LED light engine technology, has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued US Patent Number 9,338,838 covering a half or quarter-cycle current regulator for non-isolated, line voltage LED ballast circuits.

Premier Holding, the parent company of an ESCO, an energy seller and a reseller in deregulated markets, announces that its 100% owned subsidiary Energy Efficiency Experts (E3) has been awarded the contract to be the material provider of hundreds of LED lights to Inland Star for its 210,000 square foot warehouse in Carson, California. The facility is leased from Prologis Inc. a global industrial real estate investment trust (REIT) who owns, manages and develops approximately 3,000 logistics and distribution facilities across the US, Asia and Europe, serving approximately 4,700 customers across a diverse range of industries.

By the end of the summer of 2016, Northampton in Massachuseets, U.S. plans on replacing all of the city’s public streetlights, over 2,000 lamps, with new LED lights saving the city an estimated US $170,000 in operating costs annually. 

Revolution Lighting Technologies, a global provider of advanced LED lighting solutions, today announced that its division, TNT Energy, is installing a US $4.3 million turnkey LED retrofit Performance Contract with Siemens Industry Inc. Building Technologies Division for the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Compared to other manufacturers in the industry, MLS is optimistic about LED market developments and market potential with plans of scaling up LED package production this year from 50 billion PCS to 70 billion PCS, said MLS General Manager Lawrence Lin recently at a strategic partnership agreement signing ceremony with Taiwanese lighting manufacturer YACG at Denwell restaurant last Sunday.

Chinese LED package manufacturer MLS signed a strategic distribution partnership agreement with Taiwanese LED luminaire manufacturer YACG last Sunday at Denwell restaurant, Taipei, Taiwan.

EVERLIGHT filed a declaratory judgment action against Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) for invalidity and non-infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,998,925 and 7,531,960 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Michigan in 2012. These two patents are directed to YAG phosphor being used in LEDs and phosphor concentration. The court on January 19, 2016 denied Nichia’s motions and confirmed the April 22, 2015 jury verdict that all asserted claims of Nichia’s patents were invalid. In addition to the U.S. court ruling, from 2014, EVERLIGHT has continued to receive favorable rulings in Japan and Germany that Nichia’s patents are invalid. 

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that Chinese optoelectronics manufacturer Xiamen Changelight has successfully finalized the qualification of AIXTRON’s Close Coupled Showerhead MOCVD system AIX R6. 

Waterproof LED strip lighting has been added to the 1000Bulbs.com inventory, making strip lighting accessible for outdoor applications. Submersible waterproof LED strip lights are the newest addition to 1000Bulbs.com’s extensive inventory. The 1-foot, 3-foot, and 16-foot lengths of silicone-coated LEDs are Ingress Protection rated (IP-rated) for significant water exposure. The IP-68 rating means the warm white or cool white strip lights can be safely submerged in water up to 6 feet deep.

Seoul Semiconductor has successfully revoked Japanese lens maker Enplas’s LED lens patent in Taiwan, adding to a string of legal victories against Enplas in the U.S., Korea, and Europe. As a result of Seoul’s challenge, Enplas’s patent has been revoked in Taiwan.

Shirley Coyle, LC, assumed the office of President of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) starting from July 1, 2016, the international leader in lighting education, standards, publications and professional development. Coyle succeeds Mark Roush.

Indian officials from two government agencies have cautioned consumers purchasing LED bulbs from local manufacturers to pay special attention to whether the bulbs have the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) label to ensure the bulbs meet photo biological standards and do not cause harm to vision, reported Economic Times.

Aimed at helping customers meet tight project deadlines, MaxLite introduces a Quick Ship Program that provides high quality LED lighting solutions at rapid delivery speed.

Arianna Tozzi of The Climate Group addresses World Bank observations of LED lighting trends in Brazil. A Forum on ‘Business Modls for Energy Efficient Public Lighting’ was held in São Paulo, Brazil on June 1, 2016. The event was attended by over 250 street lighting stakeholders, including senior representation from over 30 major cities, private sector financiers, development banks and manufacturers.

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.

Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo has revealed the designs and specs of its flagship Oppo Find 9, one of its most popular phone models of the year that is projected to be released on the market in the next few months, reported Mobipicker.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Costa Rican electric utility, Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.A. (CNFL), for a feasibility study to support the deployment of networked light emitting diode (LED) street lights throughout CNFL’s service territory.

Samsung Display published a patent application that demonstrates an OLED-based flexible 3-in-1 device that can function as a watch, a phone, and even a tablet, reported SAMMobile.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting, today announced that it signed a patent license agreement with the U.S. company Troy-CSL Lighting. The license, based on Philips Lighting’s EnabLED program’s published terms and conditions, provides Troy-CSL Lighting with full, worldwide access to a wide range of basic LED control and system-level technologies. As a result of the agreement, all outstanding litigations between the companies related to patents offered under the EnabLED Licensing Program for LED Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs have been dismissed.

As Britain comes to terms with an EU referendum result which has far reaching implications for the economy and government, it is too early to predict the political landscape or the regulatory one which will shape our future and the impact it will have on our industry.

Gloucestershire County Council in UK is celebrating replacing 10,000 lamps with LED technology across the county.

Acuity Brands announced an agreement with Target to provide smart lighting technologies, featuring energy saving LED fixtures and dimming controls. Target will be exclusively installing Acuity Brands next generation, smart LED sales floor fixtures, along with Acuity Brands store accent lighting and distribution center site lighting, as part of ongoing efforts to significantly reduce energy consumption and enhance operational effectiveness across its facility footprint.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting today announced that it has signed a patent license agreement with the US company Amerlux. The license, based on Philips Lighting’s EnabLED licensing program’s published terms and conditions, provides Amerlux with full, worldwide access to a wide range of basic LED control and system-level technologies. As a result of the agreement, the outstanding litigation between the companies related to patents offered under the EnabLED licensing program for LED Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs has been dismissed.  To date more than 200 US companies have joined the EnabLED program and Amerlux is the second to be announced within a week.

Clovis, a city located in Fresno County, California in the U.S. will be replacing 7,600 streetlights with LED bulbs in the next few weeks, announced Pacific Gas and Electric last Friday.

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.

Monocrystal, a leading supplier of synthetic sapphire and PV metallization pastes to the world market, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Russian state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs VEB during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016. The document implies VEB’s investment in the significant expansion of Monocrystal’s production capacity.

Aftermarket (AM) automotive lighting manufacturer TYC Brother recently held a shareholder meeting announcing its financial performance for fiscal year 2015, where the company revenue reached NT $15.05 billion (US $467.38 million), and net profit of NT $670 million setting a new record high over the last 12 years, reported Money DJ.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, a leader in advanced LED lighting technology solutions, today announced that its division, Value Lighting, has been recently awarded lighting contracts for multi-family developments throughout the U.S. totaling US $4 million. This includes its most recent win with Reston Station in Reston, VA, in addition to several large multi-family developments in Washington D.C. and Georgia.

Leaders in the LED industry have been supportive of Epistar’s decision to scale down production capacity, the Taiwanese company has frozen nearly a quarter of its production capacity and initiated the largest scale down since its founding, reported China Times. This move could lower increasing cost pressures from depreciating old equipment, but at several large manufacturers shareholder meeting last week, Everlight Chairman Robert Yeh and Unity Opto’s Chairman Alpha Wu supported Epistar’s move, and from a chip buyer perspective announced chip prices had reached rock bottom.

A report from Korean media ET News claimed Chinese manufacturers San’an Opto and HC Semitek joined Epistar’s lead in raising LED chip prices, which Korean media and others analyzed was a sign that plummeting LED chip prices finally rebounded. However, LEDinside found the Korean media report was not an exclusive interview with senior executives from San’an Opto, nor was it a large scale price adjustment.