Philips Lighting dismisses an infringement claim filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission against RAB Lighting. Cree and MaxBrite announced in a report filed in the U.S. District Court the settlement of the patent infringement lawsuit Cree instituted in November last year.

Cree, Inc. , a leading LED supplier, announced that it has reached a confidential settlement in its patent infringement lawsuit with E. Mishan and Sons (“Emson”). Emson has agreed to an exclusive supply agreement to purchase market leading Cree® high power LEDs for its high performance tactical flashlights.

Bridgelux, a leading developer and manufacturer of light emitting diode (LED) lighting technologies, yesterday filed a counter claim against EVERLIGHT in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California seeking past and current damages, and an injunction preventing further sale of certain products in the United States.  Bridgelux asserts that many EVERLIGHT products including EVERLIGHT’s 2835 and chip-on-board (COB) product lines infringe on Bridgelux United States Patent numbers 6,869,812, 8,567,988, 8,256,929 and 8,092,051.

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.

On June 8, 2017, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. and Seoul Viosys Co., Ltd. (collectively “Seoul”) announced that they have resolved a patent litigation that was filed on behalf of Seoul and The Regents of the University of California against Kmart Corporation. The patent case was filed in U.S. Federal District Court, asserting infringement of eight patents based upon Kmart’s sales of Kodak/Spotlite branded filament LED bulbs.

EVERLIGHT Electronics Co., Ltd. on April 25, 2017 filed its complaints with Tokyo District Court against Nichia Corporation, Citizen Electronics Co., Ltd. and Daiko Electronics Co., Ltd. for patent infringement.

Epistar Corporation, a leading innovator and manufacturer of LED solid-state lighting technologies, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC (collectively “Lowe’s”) in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on April 28, 2017. The complaint asserts that Kichler Lighting’s LED filament bulbs and Utilitech’s LED bulbs sold by Lowe’s infringe several Epistar patents and seeks injunctive relief to halt further sale of the infringing products.

On March 31, 2017, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd (“Seoul”) filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany in the District Court of Düsseldorf against Mouser Electronics Inc. (“Mouser”), a global electronic components distributor, asserting infringement of an LED patent.

Taiwanese LED epiwafer manufacturer Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) has filed a lawsuit against its former Chief Technology Officer Yun-Li Lee for stealing and selling trade secrets to Chinese competitors, and applying acquired GPI technology in his startup company PlayNitride.

Liown Electronics, one of the world's largest suppliers of LED flameless candles and lighting, announced that it has filed a patent infringement claim against nine (9) defendants for infringing on Liown's U.S. Patent No. 8,926,137, which issued on January 6 and covers Liown's flameless candle technology, Moving Flame TM.  Liown has also asserted that these nine (9) companies infringe its U.S. Patent No. 8,789,986.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Unity Opto Technology (Unity Opto) is planning to retaliate against Cree’s recent patent infringement lawsuit, according to a Money DJ report.

GT Advanced Technology’s (GTAT) recently carried out major job cuts, and intends to take legal action against former partner Apple, according to a Reuters report.

Taiwanese sapphire manufacturer Tera Xtel Technology filed a sapphire camera lens patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, Senao International and Vibao on Oct. 9, 2014 (Taipei time). The company is seeking compensation totaling NT $300 million (US $9.88 million) from the three companies.

GE Lighting today announced the resolution of a patent infringement lawsuit filed in February 2012 against AgiLight, Inc.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) has filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to prevent Harvatek Corporation and Kingbright Corporation from infringing Cree’s patented intellectual property. These patents, among other things, protect Cree’s LED component portfolio, including Cree’s white light LEDs.

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.