On December 15, 2016, in the two patent infringement lawsuits in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court which Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") filed against Germany based manufacturer of residential lighting products, WOFI Leuchten Wortmann & Filz GmbH ("WOFI") (docket numbers 4b O 82/15 and 4b O 103/15), the court found with two parallel judgments that WOFI infringes the two YAG related patents of Nichia EP 2 197 053 (DE 697 40 792) and EP 2 276 080 (DE 697 40 795) concerning the accused white LED products. WOFI is a German subsidiary of Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Everlight").

The court rendered the judgment in favor of Nichia's claims for permanent injunction, also rendering of accounts and damages. Furthermore, the court confirmed Nichia's claim for recall of the accused products from the commercial customers and destruction of the accused products being owned or in possession by WOFI. The judgment is not final and can be appealed.

The court found in its judgment that the twelve accused white LED products of WOFI infringe claim 1 of the YAG patent; these are the products Orbit / Serie 946 - Art. No. 4946.04.01.0000, Mercur / Serie 313 - Art. No. 4313.01.01.0000, Laurids / Serie 889 - Art. No. 4889.01.64.0000, Avignon / Serie 275 - Art. No. 4275.01.64.0000, Vannes / Serie 625 - Art. No. 8625.01.01.0000, Reims / Serie 272 - Art. No. 9272.09.01.0000, Luz / Serie 682 - Art. No. 8682.01.01.0000, Louvre / Serie 825 - Art. No. 8825.01.54.0000, Style / Serie 922 - Art. No. 6922.03.01.0000, Antibes / Serie 792 - Art. No. 7792.06.01.0000, Benett / Serie 557 - Art. No. 9557.08.01.0000 and Napa / Serie 666 - Art. No. 9666.04.64.0000.

The twelve accused white LED products of WOFI (Image: Nichia)

Nichia believes that this judgment of the Düsseldorf District Court is of utmost importance for the white LED market.

Nichia seeks to protect its patents and other intellectual property rights and takes actions against alleged infringers in any country where appropriate and necessary.