Highlights of the 2015 LED enterprise “rivalry”!

It is no longer the season when warblers fly and grass grows, it is no longer the season when frogs chirp. It has gradually entered a season when grass and trees are scattered and wild geese fly south. August has passed quietly. September, passing through all the temperatures left in summer, comes with a hint of coolness.

For the LED industry, in the first eight months of 2015, the overall development was good. However, the competition among enterprises in the market has become increasingly fierce. Price wars, patent wars, and channel wars are filled with smoke. Disputes, large and small, can be said to come one after another, and you may accidentally "get into trouble". Let's review the "lawsuit scandal" in the LED industry in the past eight months of 2015, hoping to provide inspiration and reference for relevant LED companies.

Patent disputes

CREE sued Dongbei Optoelectronics for patent infringement

In January, CREE Inc. The International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Wisconsin Federal Court filed a lawsuit accusing unlisted U.S. company Feit Electric Co. and Taiwan's Dongbei Optoelectronics of infringing on the company's multiple patents related to the design and operation of LED chips, packaging and LED bulbs.

Mitsubishi Chemical sues Heard and Intematix for infringement of red phosphor patents

On January 23, 2015, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation filed a lawsuit against Yantai Shield Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. and the American Intematix Corporation (hereinafter referred to as: Intematix). , filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court for infringement of the basic patent related to red phosphors jointly owned by the Independent Administrative Legal Person Materials Research Institute and our company (Chinese Patent No. ZL201110066517.7, etc., hereinafter referred to as the "patent"), requesting to stop the production and sale of phosphor products within China and other infringing activities and to compensate for losses.

Litigation resumes, Zumtobel Group strictly protects LED patent rights

In March, Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH held a press conference in Mannheim, Germany The district court filed a lawsuit against AOC International (Europe) B.V. and AOC International (Europe) GmbH, accusing them of infringing the EP1352431 B1 patent held by the B.O.S.E. Alliance.

Osram wins its first battle against Asus for infringing its white LED patent

At the end of May, Osram announced that it had won the first-instance judgment in its patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer ASUS. Osram claims that certain white LEDs used in Asus' first-generation Nexus 7 tablet infringe its German patent DE 196 55 185. The District Court of Dusseldorf granted Osram an injunction and ruled that ASUS must compensate Osram for losses caused by patent infringement. Asus appealed the decision and Osram initiated enforcement.

CREE was sued by Feit Electric for LED patent infringement

In July, Feit Electric announced that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against CREE in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of North Carolina. Feit Electric claims that CREE's 4FLOW LED bulbs infringe its U.S. patent numbers 8408748 and 9016901.

GE Lighting sued Lighting Science for infringing its LED patent and the US court rejected it

In August, Lighting Science Group Corporation (LSG) recently announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted LSG’s summary judgment motion and declared certain patents of GE Lighting invalid, while rejecting GE Lighting’s patent infringement claim against LSG. In the lawsuit, GE Lighting accused six LED manufacturers, including LSG, of infringing on two of its LED patents, namely U.S. Patent No. 6787999, titled "LED Modular Light Source Product Patent", and U.S. Patent No. 6799864, titled "High-Power LED Power Pack Patent for Spotlight Modules."

Nichia in Germany sues Everlight subsidiary WOFI for infringement

The LED patent war between Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia and Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight has heated up. After years of litigation between the two parties, Nichia filed a lawsuit with the Dusseldorf District Court in Germany on August 31, 2015 against WOFI Leucht, a German subsidiary of Taiwan Everlight Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Everlight") en Wortmann&Filz GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "WOFI") sued for alleged infringement of Nichia patents. Nichia sued WOFI this time based on the latest approved YAG patents (ie EP080 and EP053), requesting the court to issue a permanent injunction, order WOFI to submit relevant accounts and award damages. However, Everlight filed an invalidity lawsuit against Nichia's EU patent No. EP 936 682, which has been ruled invalid by the court.

Civil, trademark and other disputes

Subject to civil litigation, Tianlong Optoelectronics received a court summons

In April, Jiangsu Huasheng Tianlong Optoelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Company") recently announced that , the company received a summons and civil complaint from the Shanghai Huangpu District People's Court, requiring the company to go to the First Court of the Shanghai Huangpu District People's Court at 10 a.m. on May 25, 2015 to respond to a dispute over a financial loan contract of RMB 19.5 million from Shanghai James Electronic Materials Co., Ltd.

Opp Lighting claimed 2.5 million yuan for "Wanming Op" due to similar trademarks.

In August, because the products produced by Jiaxing Wanming Op Electrical Co., Ltd. carried the word "Op", Op Lighting Co., Ltd. sued Wan Ming Op to court, requiring Wan Ming Op to stop using the "Op" trademark and claiming 2.5 million yuan. Yesterday, the Kunming Intermediate People's Court heard the case.

The aftermath of "infighting": Wu Changjiang, an affiliate and former director of NVC Lighting, was sued

On August 19, NVC Lighting announced that it had recently received a court notice notifying a financial company to file legal proceedings in the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court against the following parties: the company's former director Wu Changjiang, NVC China, an individual who may be related to Wu Changjiang, and two other entities. In the legal proceedings, the finance company required the first defendant (Wu Changjiang) to repay a loan in the amount of RMB 34 million plus interest. The finance company further claimed that the other four defendants were jointly responsible for the borrower's obligations.

Fo Zhao was awarded more than 27 million yuan in compensation and the cumulative amount exceeded 100 million yuan

Since the year before last, Foshan Lighting has received civil lawsuits filed against the company by a total of 2,749 plaintiffs on the grounds of "liability disputes for securities misrepresentation." On August 31, Foshan Lighting issued an announcement disclosing that it had received "Civil Judgments" for 290 of the above-mentioned cases from the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court. According to the announcement, the defendant Foshan Lighting was sentenced to compensate the plaintiffs in the above 290 cases for investment difference losses, commissions, etc. totaling RMB 25.58 million and HKD 2.22 million, totaling more than RMB 27 million.

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