With judgment dated July 19, 2018 (docket number 2 Ni 55/16 (EP)), the German Federal Patent Court fully confirmed the validity of the German part of Nichia’s YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929). As a consequence, the court completely rejected the nullity action of Everlight Electronics Europe, the German subsidiary of Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight. The judgment of the Federal Patent Court is not final and can be appealed.

(Image: Nichia)

The value in dispute for the nullity action was set by the Federal Patent Court to EUR 7.3 million. By that, the court significantly raised the value in dispute requested by Everlight Europe with EUR 2.5 million. The determination of the value of dispute is not final and can be appealed as well. The court reasoned the determination of the value in dispute by making reference to the importance of the validity of Nichia’s YAG patent for the respective, currently still pending infringement actions in Germany and to the total amount of the individual values in dispute of those infringement proceedings which are: Nichia vs Everlight Taiwan and Everlight Europe at the Federal Court of Justice (docket number X ZR 5/17), Nichia vs Everlight Taiwan and Everlight Europe at the Düsseldorf District Court (docket number 4b O 161/17), Nichia vs distributor EBV Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG and EBV Management GmbH at the Düsseldorf District Court (docket number 4b O 20/17), and Nichia vs WOFI Leuchten Wortmann & Filz GmbH, another German subsidiary of Everlight Taiwan, at the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal (docket number I-2 U 33/17).