Nichia explained the legal course of actions it took throughout 2016 were not aimed at particular manufacturers, but was part of their general intellectual property protection policy.

Philips Lighting, the global leader in lighting and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Philips, announced that it entered into a patent license agreement with the Italian company iGuzzini. The license, based on the terms and conditions of the EnabLED Licensing Program, provides iGuzzini with full, worldwide access to a wide range of basic LED control and system-level technologies. Both companies have also agreed to dismiss all outstanding litigations related to patents offered under Philips’ EnabLED Licensing Program for LED Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs.

Intematix Corporation, an innovator of patented phosphors and phosphor components for high-quality LED lighting, provided an update on its patent infringement litigation in South Korea with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.

Pluritas, LLC, an intellectual property transaction advisory firm, is conducting the sale of a strategic LED patent portfolio from Illumitex, Inc., an LED innovator and maker of optically advanced lighting products. The Illumitex portfolio includes five patent families and 17 applications, each related to novel approaches for improving LED extraction efficiency and for chip shaping. The IP rights capture years of innovation and R&D relevant to the multi-billion-dollar market for LED chips.

Lumenpulse Inc., received a US patent for its Lumensmart technology, which is designed to simplify and extend control of LED lighting by allowing LED luminaires to auto-detect and adapt to common lighting control protocols DMX, RDM, DALI, and 0-10V over a wired network. Lumensmart will be implemented across Lumenpulse's product portfolio and will be made available in the future to third-party manufacturers. The technology is part of the company's effort to accelerate the commercial adoption of LED luminaires by reducing costs and complexity of LED sy...

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...

Epistar recently was granted its 1000th patent. This number will continue to grow as there are about another 1,000 applications pending worldwide. Since its establishment in 1996, Epistar has firmly believed that technology innovation is the foundation for being a leader in the industry, and that acquisition and strategic deployment of intellectual property rights, such as patents, is a key to success. In Epistar’s extensive patent portfolio, ITO technology is one core technology that Epistar’s founders developed while they were at ITRI (Industrial Technolog...

LG Electronics has buried the hatchet with Siemen's light bulb unit Osram over an LED patent lawsuit. In addition, according to Reuters, the two companies also agreed to "cross-license each other's LED patents and drop all litigation related to lighting product technology that they filed last year against each other in South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Germany."  Also, Osram made a similar deal two months ago with Samsung....

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...

Two market leaders in the global ultra-violet light-emitting diode (UV LED) curing market have entered into a cross-licensing of intellectual property (IP) patents expanding access and protecting customers rights to technology. Patents held by UK-based Integration Technology Ltd (ITL) and North American based Lumen Dynamics Group Inc. (LDGI) are to be cross-licensed, enabling ITL products entry to the North American market and Lumen Dynamics enhanced access to its European counterpart.   The patents allow for greater control of the curing process...

OSRAM has filed legal actions against Samsung group companies and LG group companies in the US and Germany as well as against an LG group company in Japan. Based on its conviction that these companies, respectively, infringe fundamental patent rights, OSRAM will also file a suit against LG in China tomorrow. With this move OSRAM intends to enforce its patents on Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.

With the development of LEDs, more and more manufactories started to emphasize their own technical patents, which also bring some patents competition and cooperation.

In November of 2009, Nichia Corporation filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas alleging that certain white LED-application products marketed Jiawei and its international corporate subsidiaries contain patent infringing white LEDs.

Fallon Luminous Products Corp., a leading manufacturer of lighted signs, announced that yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. overturned the earlier decision of the District Court in Cookeville, Tennessee, and ruled in favor of Fallon in its appeal of a patent infringement suit brought against Fallon by iLight Technologies. The Court vacated both the monetary judgment and the injunction that had been entered against Fallon by the District Court.

Light Transformation Technologies LLC recently filed two patent infringement lawsuits against a number of companies. It claims to be the exclusive licensee under U.S. Patent No. 6,543,911 issued April 8, 2003, for a Highly Efficient Luminaire Having Optical Transformer Providing Precalculated Angular Intensity Distribution and Method Therefore. In the complaint, LTT alleges several companies are infringing the '911 Patent. The defendants listed in the complaint are: Anderson Custom Electronics Inc. Dialight Corp. Digi-Key Corp.

 Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has reached a settlement with Mitsubishi Corp. regarding her assertion that the company and dozens of other major electronics manufacturers in Asia and Europe violated her patents for producing LEDs and laser diodes in products, such as video players that are used for Sony's Blu-ray format, Motorola Razr phones and Hitachi camcorders, backlighting for computers, as well as street lighting and optical storage of information. 

To support the local LED makers in crucial patents, Taiwan government could invest in foreign LED companies or set up a large joint venture by coordinating local manufacturers to pool patents.

Everlight signed a non-exclusive cross-license agreement with OSRAM GmbH (“OSRAM”), providing the companies (including wholly-owned affiliates) with access in certain areas to each other’s patented LED technology.

It’s reported that Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, professor emerita of Materials Science and Engineering at Columbia University in New York, filed a complaint with the U.S.

On October 1, 2008, Korea Intellectual Property Tribunal ("KIPT") ruled that a patent, related to LED element, (Patent # KP 491482, hereinafter "'482 patent") owned by Nichia Corporation ("Nichia) is invalid based on lack of inventiveness.

Recently, MicroSolar Corp. announced to target mass production of super-bright LED lamps in the initial stage and would step into the concentrator photovoltaic solar-cell business in the second phase.

Recently, Japanese LED maker Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against its Korean rival, Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The lawsuit claims that Seoul's Acriche series white LED product infringes the Nichia patent EP(DE)622858. Seoul's German subsidiary, Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH, and its German distributor, Conrad Electronic SE, are also listed in the lawsuit, which seeks injunctive relief and compensation for damages.

Four consumer electronics companies, including Sony and Sanyo Electric, have settled a complaint that they were infringing a patent on semiconductors related to LEDs and laser diodes used in products such as mobile phones, billboards, Blu-ray disc players and data storage devices, according to lawyers for the patent holder.  

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has begun an investigation into a list of companies that reads like a Who's Who in the modern electronics industry. At issue is whether or not the companies in question have infringed upon a series of patents held by Dr. Gertrude Neumark Rothschild.