According to the research of LEDinside, the market scale of LED plant lighting is estimated to grow to US$ 633 million by 2022, with a CAGR of 30% during 2018-2022. Many LED producers have entered the market of horticulture lighting to share the expanding opportunities when the demands in the general lighting market are relatively weak. LEDinside has collected the updates of horticultural applications from LED firms of the world. 

Mini LED as an enhanced version of conventional LED backlight has been considered as a transitional technology between conventional LED and Micro LED. According to the estimation of LEDinside, the revenue of Mini LED products is expected to reach US$689 million by 2022. Before the second half of 2018 started, many LED companies have reported their progress and shipping schedule of Mini LED products including applications of automotive lighting and mobile devices.

For a long time, Nichia, Osram Opto., Cree, Toyota Gosei and Lumileds have jointly shaped an enormous and powerful patent shield with cross-license agreements within the world LED industry and the five lighting goliaths have been charging, more or less, whoever tried to sell LED products abroad. However, as those patents are about to expire, Taiwan- and Korea-based Companies rise with their new patents and the expansion of Chinese businesses is posing threats, the industry is slowing transitioning away from the old oligopoly.

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.

On February 22, 2017, Nichia Corporation (“Nichia“) filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany at the District Court Düsseldorf against the Germany-based distributor EBV Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG and EBV Management GmbH (both “EBV“).

As reported in a prior press release, in its judgement of December 22, 2016 (docket number I-15 U 31/14), the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany has confirmed the infringement as already found at court in first instance of YAG Patent EP 0 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) of Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") by Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and its German subsidiary Everlight Electronics Europe GmbH (both "Everlight") concerning six accused white LED products. The further appeal of the Everlight affecting judgement was not allowed by the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal. Everlight has filed in the meantime against this decision a request with the Federal Court of Justice (docket number X ZR 5/17) to allow such further appeal.

As reported in a prior press release, on September 29, 2016, the Düsseldorf District Court in Germany had granted a preliminary injunction against Mouser Electronics Inc. ("Mouser") based on a request of Nichia Corporation ("Nichia"). The court admitted Nichia's arguments that the white LED product "334-15/X1C5-1QSA" manufactured by Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and distributed by Mouser in Germany infringes Nichia's YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929).

Another bitter litigation between two noted LED manufacturers has come to an end. The Intellectual Property High Court of Japan (IPHC) announced on 18th of Jan, 2017 a dismissal of the lawsuit Everlight filed to call for injunctions against Nichia based on the Japanese Unfair Competition Act.

Nichia announced Tuesday that it had won another LED patent infringement suit against Everlight in Dusseldorf Court in Germany, and filed another four patent suits against Chinese LCD TV manufacturer TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, LED retailers Lowe’s Hone, and LED distributors L G Sourcing and Feit Electric. Feit Electric is the most recent plaintiff to be included in the Japanese LED manufacturers list of companies where it is seeking for injunctions that prohibit the sale and distribution of infringing products, but there has not been much changes in its patent suit strategy. The company is following a trajectory similar to 2016 in its patent suit approach. LEDinside also estimates Feit Electric might cave into arriving a settlement in a similar way that it did with Cree in 2016.

With judgment of Dec. 22, 2016 (docket number I-15 U 31/14), the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany has confirmed the infringement of YAG Patent EP 0 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) of Nichia Corporation (“Nichia“) by Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and its German subsidiary Everlight Electronics Europe GmbH (both “Everlight“) concerning six accused white LED products.

Taiwanese LED industry underwent significant changes in senior management including in leading LED manufacturer Everlight, Optotech, and Unistar Opto, reported Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times.

Leading Japanese LED chip manufacturer Nichia announced today it had won two separate YAG LED patent disputes against Everlight subsidiaries in the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany.

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.

EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS, a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, introduces the ALS-PD50-42C. The new ambient light sensor operates at a 550nm and has a very low signal calculation failure rate and a high current efficiency.  The/An ideal application for this device is heart rate signal detection in wearable electronics for the health and fitness industry. 

San’an Opto said that the company has engaged in preliminary discussions with Osram upon a potential acquisition or partnership. However, the two parties only met once to discuss related issues so far.

On September 29, 2016, Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) filed a request for a preliminary injunction in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court against Mouser Electronics Inc. (“Mouser”), alleging that the white LED product “334-15/X1C5-1QSA” manufactured by Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Everlight”) and distributed by Mouser in Germany infringes Nichia’s YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929).

Rising VR, security and small pitch LED display demands has led to severe shortage in AlInGaP LEDs, reported Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times.

Colorful LEDs can be applied in specialty lighting sectors, such as stage lighting, plant grow lights and landscape lighting markets. Regional markets in China, U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia have especially benefited from emerging applications in the local market and witnessed increased procurements for color LEDs. Demands for different color RGBW LED components have emerged as a result from this trend, and is accelerating in related specialty lighting market applications. The popular LED grow light market has grown to US $575 million in 2016, and LEDinside estimates it will reach US $1.42 billion by 2020. LEDinside has also observed LEDs for stage light market value reached US $500 million, and is projected to further escalate.

Everlight announced that it will be filing another suit to invalidate Nichia’s YAG LED patent in Germany.

Everlight stated in a press release that Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) ruled Nichia’s white LED patent TW 383508 was invalid on July 28, 2016.

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. 

The market for automotive LED components has grown rapidly in recent years. In the interior automotive lighting application market, the penetration of LED products has reached 70% to 80%. The number of vehicles using LED headlamps has also increased considerably.  Among Taiwan-based LED package suppliers, EVERLIGHT has been the most active in the automotive LED market. As one of the leading LED manufacturers worldwide, EVERLIGHT has overcome technology barriers to achieve mass production capability to provide a wide range of automotive LED products. In a recent interview with LEDinside, Torrent Chin, Associate Vice President, Product R&D Marketing, EVERLIGHT, discussed in detail the company’s developments in the automotive LED market and trends observed.

EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS, a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, announces five new UV LEDs at LIGHTFAIR International 2016, showcased at booth #1851.

Affected by the uncertain economic outlook, Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight’s business operations in 2016 lacked strong growth momentum, reported Taiwanese media UDN. Waning consumer consumption led to sliding revenues in the backlight market, which has neutralized lighting market growth. 

In 2012, EVERLIGHT filed a declaratory judgment action of invalidity and non-infringement against Nichia’s U.S. Patent Nos. 5,998,925 and 7,531,960 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. These two patents are directed to YAG phosphors being used in LEDs and phosphor concentration. The jury on April 22, 2015 has found all the asserted patent claims invalid. And the court has rejected Nichia’s motions for a new trial and confirmed the jury finding on January 19, 2016. 

EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, announces the Shwo F-ELB high power LED series, the latest and most powerful update to the existing high power and bright "Shwo" LED Series. Shwo F-ELB features Flip Chip technology to enable better overdrive conditions while maintaining high efficiency.  

EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, announces an ultra-high efficiency version of its low-mid-power 5630 package series, the 5630 HE KK7D-ELB, available now.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight reported mixed results in several patent lawsuits rulings against Japanese manufacturer Nichia.

Nichia announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has issued a decision holding that Everlight Electronics and Everlight Americas (collectively, “Everlight”) have infringed three Nichia patents. The court upheld patent infringement claims that Nichia filed against Everlight in 2013.

The sluggish global economy triggered the downtrend in the LED industry in 2015, and next year is expected to be just as challenging for manufacturers in the backlight and general lighting market, said Katsuyuki Akutagawa, Chief Legal & IP Officer and Company Board Director of Nichia (the company) at a press conference held in Mandarin Oriental Taipei, earlier Wednesday.