Major Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia has always been aggressive in deploying patent strategies and lawsuits. Since the company’s core YAG phosphor patent term will expire in 2017, the company has been deploying patent strategies in new materials, especially in Mn 4+ red phosphor powder to maintain a stronghold in LED patents.

In response to Nichia Corporation’s (Nichia) press release regarding the order entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Everlight notes that the order referenced in Nichia’s press release relates to discovery disputes and is not a substantive ruling on the merits of any of Everlight’s claims or defenses.  The orders are not related to the merits of patent infringement or validity and therefore have no effect on Everlight’s products.  Also, Everlight have produced relevant LED list and samples in compliance with the Court’s Order.

Nichia Corp. of Japan announced that it has filed a new complaint in its multinational patent infringement dispute against Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd.of Taiwan. In an amended complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on November 22, Nichia accuses Everlight, Everlight’s subsidiaries Everlight Americas, Inc. (“Everlight Americas”) and Zenaro Lighting, Inc. (“Zenaro”), and Zenaro’s distributor Zitroz LLC of infringing four Nichia patents regarding light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”).  

Everlight responds to Nichia's amendment complaint concerning the U.S. patent litigation.

On November 22, 2013, Nichia Corporation filed an amended complaint in its on-going patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Everlight’s U.S. subsidiary Everlight Americas, Inc. (collectively “Everlight”), originally filed on September 11, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Everlight responds to Nichia's press release on November 7th regarding Chinese Patent Nos. ZL97196762.8 and ZL03159595.2 (YAG patents).

Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia announced recently , it had received the court verdict from the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court pertaining to the decision by the State Intellectual Property Office’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that Nichia’s two YAG patents (ZL97196762.8, ZL03159595.2) were valid.

For the past three years, Seoul Semiconductor’s main product had been the mid-powered 5630. However, the company has recently turned its attention towards 3030 LED in 2013, to compete with Nichia’s better price/performance (P/P) 767 series on the market, said Scarphen Sun, Principal Engineer for Korean LED package manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor at the company’s LED Lighting Application Seminar on October 22nd.

Taiwan LED packaging manufacture Everlight and Japanese LED manufacture Nichia’s patent war continues with both sides refusing to back down. The dispute however has not affected J.P. Morgan’s outlook for Everlight’s Q3 and Q4 operations. J.P. Morgan believes that recognized earnings for street light bids and German subsidiary WOFI’s recognized earnings for the second half of the year will be expected to increase around 10 percent for Q3. Revenue for Q4 is expected to continue rising.

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.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled in favor of Everlight today (September 13th) over patent infringement lawsuits filed against Nichia Corp regarding U.S. patent no. 6,653,215 LED metallization technology. Everlight also demands the courts declare Nichia patent nos. 5,998,925 and 7,531,960 void.

After The Japanese Patent Office (JPO) rendered Nichia’s patent JP2780691 invalid on November 12, 2012, Nichia decided to file for a Correction Trial at the JPO to conduct claim amendment. Subsequent to the trial procedure, the JPO upheld its previous decision to invalidate all claims of JP'691 again. Everlight applauds this decision. Everlight is pleased to say that both the civil and administrative actions brought by Nichia in 2011 obtained their final judgments that Nichia was defeated. Nichia hence turned to its hometown Japan to stir up patent ...

Industry representatives for CREE, Lumileds, and Nichia held a conference at this week’s LED Show in Las Vega, Nevada over the future development of LED lighting. The conference touched on whether or not LEDs could continue advancing at the same pace in terms of lumen output and efficiency as they have over the past several years. The focus of the conference however turned towards meeting solid-state lighting (SSL) system quality and cost goals for different LED technologies. <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 0 2 false false false EN-US ZH-TW X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> ...-->

According to the introduction from Taiwan-based LED manufacturers, Japan-based Nichia is the world's largest supplier of High Brightness LED, and it has occupied a leading market status in EMC-based LED chip packaging industry, but some LED packaging enterprises from Taiwan, China and South Korea have been competing for orders from LED lighting vendors, so that Nichia is expected to lose 20% of its orders in the second half of this year. Nichia received several patents regarding LED chip packaging based on EMC in 2007 and then offered an LED pack...

On June 11, 2013, Nichia Corporation filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to enjoin Emcore Corporation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, from infringing Nichia’s U.S. Patent No. 7,295,587 and to claim damages for the infringement with regard to laser diode products sold by Emcore. Nichia's '587 patent relates to laser diode structures used for plastic optical fibers that can be used in applications like telecommunications. Nichia seeks to protect its patents and other intellectual prope...

On March 19, 2013, Nichia has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Tokyo District Court to enjoin Tsannkuen Japan (Sankun Nihon Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, hereinafter “Tsann Kuen”), a subsidiary of a Taiwanese company, from infringing Nichia’s patent (No. 2780618, or “patent No. 618”) and to claim damages for the infringement with regard to LED desk lamps (product number TF-A321) manufactured by Tsann Kuen. Patent No. 618 relates to the production of blue LED chips. Blue LED chips are incorporated in white LED products us...

Nichia developed deep UV LED at shorter than 310nm and will be providing evaluation samples upon request.

In the patent infringement lawsuit in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court which Nichia filed against Hornbach-Baumarkt-AG ("Hornbach"), the court found following the main hearing on November 27, 2012 with judgment of December 20, 2012 (File No. 4a O 112/11) that Hornbach infringes Nichia's patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) (hereinafter called "YAG patent") concerning the accused white LED Christmas illumination products. The court rendered a judgment, although it is not final and can be appealed by Hornbach, in favor of Nic...

Everlight filed an invalidation action with the Japan Patent Office against Nichia Corporation’s blue LED patent No. JP2780691. The Japan Patent Office rendered a decision in favor of Everlight on Nov. 12, 2012, holding that Nichia’s patent JP2780691 is totally invalid. Following Nichia’s YAG white light LED patent No. JP3503139, which was found invalid by Japan Patent Office this May, JP2780691 is another one of Nichia’s core patents that have been declared as invalid. Everlight believes that this decision is entirely rea...

Despite Nichia planned to enter into LED markets in China and enlarge its market share there, it has been foiled by simmering anti-Japan sentiment in China due mainly to the Diaoyutai island issue, so is considering to cooperate with Taiwanese enterprises for further development. And two Taiwanese companies, including Hon Hai Group and Epistar, will be part of the joint venture. According to senior Nichia executives and based on positive outlook towards widespread use of LED lighting, the firm focused on the ample business potential in China, having invested at le...

Taiwan’s LED industry has benefited from simmering anti-Japan sentiment in China, due to nationalization of the Diaoyutai islet. Formosa Epitaxy Incorporation (FOREPI) and Epistar to see booming revenues in September, because many LED-related orders diverted from Japan to Taiwan. According to insiders, rising sales of color TVs in China drive demand for LED-backlit chips; while anti-Japan there has moved many Chinese LED TV factories and system providers to transfer chip orders from Nichia to Taiwan’s Epistar, FOREPI, Unity Opto ...

Nichia has developed a new surface mount LED device (SMD) for outdoor full color display applications. Under Nichia part number "NSSM032", this product is a surface mount device for all weather applications. Waterproof and silicone potted, NSSM032 is easily integrated by user due to the thicker package size and lower position of leads. Plus, the black external package color provides high contrast ratio for superior image definition. Nichia says that a higher level of outdoor screen image quality can be realized with NSSM032 even when viewed from wide a...

A patent dispute between Nichia and Everlight never come to an end. On June 4, Nichia’s counsels held a press conference in Taiwan to announce that the company has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Japan against a Japan Patent Office’s ruling in favor of Everlight.   According to Everlight, Japan Patent Office rendered a decision on May 8 this year, holding that the patent JP3503139 is invalid. Everlight said the ruling includes invalidation of Claim 1, which is the main claim of the patent at issue. Nichia’s counsels pointed out ...

According to Japan LED maker Nichia's website, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Everlight") has filed patent nullity proceedings in Japan Patent Office against 19 patents held by Nichia Corporation ("Nichia"). Among such Nichia patents is the "YAG Patent", which is the Japanese Patent No. 2927279 ("279 Patent") and is directed to white LEDs by the combinations of blue LED and YAG phosphor. The JPO held on April 9, 2012, that the 279 Patent is valid over the Everlight's challenge. Nichia also sa...

Everlight has filed patent nullity proceedings in Japan Patent Office against 19 patents held by Nichia. Among such Nichia patents is the "YAG Patent", which is the Japanese Patent No. 2927279 ("279 Patent") and is directed to white LEDs by the combinations of blue LED and YAG phosphor. The JPO held on April 9, 2012, that the 279 Patent is valid over the Everlight's challenge. Two other patents, Japanese Patent Nos. 2778349 (electrode patent), and 2540791 (anneal patent), have been also found by the JPO as valid. As such, YAG ...

Decision rendered by the Japan Patent Office Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd. filed an invalidation action with the Japan Patent Office against Nichia Corporation’s YAG white light LED patent (patent No. JP3503139). Everlight has received the decision from the Japan Patent Office recently. The Japan Patent Office rendered a decision on May 8th, 2012, holding that the patent JP3503139 is invalid. The ruling includes the invalidation of Claim 1, which is the main claim of the patent at issue. Everlight believes that this decision is entirely rea...

Nichia has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany at the District Court Düsseldorf against Zenaro Lighting GmbH ("Zenaro"), which is a German LED lighting company mainly owned by Everlight, and the German distributor REGO-Lighting GmbH on April 27, 2012. In the lawsuit, Nichia is seeking permanent injunction, rendering account, damages, recall and destruction against an office light of Zenaro (product number: OL-Deluxe/QL2/P44/LF/D50/SR/M/CE/ZN) including white LED tubes (product number: SL-Cobra/T5 048DC/C/P10/L...

Everlight filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nichia in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit seeks to enjoin Nichia from manufacturing, using, importing, offering for sale, or selling its infringing products in the United States. It also seeks monetary damages. In its complaint, Everlight is seeking enforcement of a patent covering LED metallization technology, U.S. Patent No. 6,653,215. Everlight is the exclusive U.S. licensee of the ‘215 Patent, which is owned by Emcore Corporation. Uses for Ni...

According to Nichia, the company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Harvatek and the German distributors MSC Microcomputers Systems Components Vertriebs GmbH, "Gleichmann & Co." Electronics GmbH and Glyn Jones GmbH & Co. Vertrieb von elektronischen Bauelementen KG, at the District Court Düsseldorf in Germany on March 29, 2012. The court found with judgments of the same day that Harvatek and said distributors infringe Nichia's patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) (hereinafter called "YAG patent") concer...

euroLED organisers IntertechPira and Birmingham Science Park Aston are pleased to announce the full agenda for the 9th annual euroLED 2012 conference, bringing together major lighting companies, end users and industry specialists to provide key industry insight, topical case studies and technical market data. Taking place on 13-14 June 2012 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK, euroLED comprises of an exhibition, showcasing all levels of the LED supply chain, a high profile technical conference and a highly popular gala dinner. The complete euroLE...